The New York Office of Cannabis Management held a Control Board Meeting today that was broadcast online. Earlier this month, it published an annual report for FY2024, which ended in June, and it shared some data that suggested that September sales fell. In August, sales set a record of $97.4 million, and the annual report shared data for September. The chart suggested that sales were $63.5 million (Figure 1 on Page 9), but it included a footnote that said that the data was as of mid-September. Today’s meeting showed that the full month of September was $84.7 million:
While sales in September did decline by 12% from August, the decline was due to the odd way that the state accounts for sales. John Kagia, Director of Policy, explained during the meeting that September had four weeks, while August had five. He shared several slides, one of which suggested that weekly sales are surging:
The surge since May ties into a stronger effort to close unlicensed dispensaries. Weekly sales have surged 75% since May 25th. We picked up on this three months ago in the NCV weekly newsletter, where we pointed out that New York cannabis was booming.
Three months ago, we reported that there were 144 adult-use stores in the state, and now there are 210. The store growth has been strong both in the NYC and Long Island area, where 94 stores are now open (4 on Long Island), and upstate NY, where there are now 116 open.
In Q3, total adult-use sales reached $250 million and rose 54% sequentially and 357% from a year earlier. The New York market is growing, but it has a lot more room to grow. It is the fourth largest state by population, with about half of the population of California. That state is not exactly booming, but its Q3 total sales were estimated by BDSA to be $1.26 billion, about 5X the level of New York sales. New York is growing strongly, while California sales shrank 1% from a year earlier.
New York continues to offer its consumers a better market, and there are plenty of public companies that are serving it. The public companies dominated the small medical cannabis market, but several are starting to build up their efforts in adult-use. Curaleaf and Green Thumb Industries each operate 3 adult-use stores, while Acreage, Cannabist, Cresco Labs, iAnthus and Vireo don’t operate any yet. MedMen, which is bankrupt no longer operates in the state. Riv Capital owns Etain, and it has 3 adult-use stores now. Pharmacann, which has an investment from Cronos Group, operates 1 too (Verilife).
The Board meeting had other data, including total market share on the production side of 12% for the 9 registered organizations serving the medical program that are currently producing for adult-use. Flower makes up 37% of total sales, while prerolls account for 11%. Non-flower products represent 52%.
I am very bullish on New York, but they can do a better job on getting the data out. Many states issue monthly updates and include the data on their websites. New York can do better on this front. Still, this big state has come a long way. Investors should be paying attention.
