Colorado Pot Prices Reach Three-Year High, Up 25 Percent Since July

Have you noticed higher prices at the pot shop? According to new state data on marijuana transactions, you're not alone. Wholesale marijuana prices in Colorado have jumped almost 25 percent since July, according to the state Department of Revenue.

The DOR's latest average market rate, based on retail marijuana transactions from June through August, calculates the median market price for a pound of marijuana flower every few months. The report, released September 21, tallies the price per pound at $1,316, up more than 24 percent since July. Marijuana trim prices increased nearly 15 percent per pound, to $350, the DOR notes, and seeds doubled in cost, from $4 to $8 each.

In January 2019, the median price per pound of flower was $781, less than 60 percent of what it's listed at today.

Marijuana sales have boomed in 2020, even as the majority of Colorado's economy underperforms in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with dispensary and pot excise tax revenues up 32.4 percent over 2019, according to the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting. Such high demand led to shopper complaints of marijuana shortages by July and August.

Wholesale supply usually declines in the late summer and early fall before annual outdoor harvests are available, leading to a hike in prices until November or December.

Although the price-per-pound for flower has reached its highest AMR rate since 2017, categories connected to extracted and infused products are dropping. Marijuana flower and trim allocated for extraction fell about 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively, while whole wet plant, or plant matter used for infused product production, also slightly fell.