Canada’s federal government recently published cannabis industry sales data for June 2026, and the industry set a new monthly sales record. According to Statistics Canada and as initially reported by StratCann, Canadian cannabis retailers sold $517.8 million (CAD) worth of cannabis in June 2026.
The setting of a new monthly record in Canada seemed to generate quite a bit of discussion among cannabis industry members and observers, yielding comparisons between the size of Canada’s legal cannabis market and the State of California’s market. There has also been considerable discussion in recent days about international cannabis imports and exports, with Germany setting a new quarterly record for cannabis imports in Q1 2026, data demonstrating that Australia imported a record total of medical cannabis in 2025, and Brazil’s medical cannabis import authorizations increasing significantly in the first half of 2026.
As the global cannabis industry becomes increasingly more connected, the United States continues to largely remain in ‘cruise control,’ at least from an international cannabis perspective. That is evident in cannabis import data from other countries, with Germany serving as a great example. Germany is currently the top destination for medical cannabis exports from other legal markets.
According to Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), Germany imported medical cannabis from 22 different countries between 2024 and 2026, with Canada as the top source by far. Portugal is in second place on the list, followed by Denmark and North Macedonia. The Czech Republic exported more medical cannabis to Germany in Q1 2026 compared to North Macedonia, but has historically trailed behind. The United States is not on the list at all.
Australia currently ranks second for medical cannabis imports, having imported over 81 tonnes of medical cannabis products in 2025. By comparison, Germany imported roughly 205 tonnes of medical cannabis in 2025. Similar to Germany, Canada is the top source for medical cannabis imports in Australia, although it is losing ground to Thailand.
In 2024, Australia imported about 1.1 tonnes of medical cannabis from Thailand and 62.1 tonnes from Canada. However, in 2025, Australia imported roughly 20.7 tonnes from Thailand and 49.1 tonnes from Canada. South Africa, New Zealand, and Colombia are other top sources for medical cannabis imports to Australia, but much like in Germany, the United States is absent from the import data.
The federal government in the United States is in the process of rescheduling cannabis from its current status as a Schedule I substance to Schedule III. Once that rescheduling process is complete, medical cannabis companies in the U.S. will finally have a path to make meaningful inroads into the global export market. With that being said, there will no doubt be some headaches for U.S. companies along the way.
For starters, medical cannabis exports will have to comply with the standards of other markets, such as the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards in European markets. The standard is by no means impossible for U.S. companies to meet, but it will require U.S. companies to adjust some of their practices. There is also the logistical consideration of shipping cannabis to far away markets, often over long periods of time. Markets in the U.S. are currently siloed and limited to state borders. Cannabis that is cultivated and harvested does not travel very far in the U.S., which is obviously different compared to exporting cannabis halfway around the world. It is not an insurmountable issue, but it is something that U.S. companies have historically not had to face.
Additionally, there is the basic math involved. Cannabis producers in the United States are certainly capable of producing large amounts of cannabis. There is no doubt about that. However, are U.S. producers capable of producing large amounts of cannabis that can meet the standards of other markets and do it in a way that makes U.S. cannabis economically viable in other markets? U.S. cannabis will have to compete with cannabis produced in places like Thailand and Colombia, where it is much cheaper to cultivate. Just as Canada is losing international market share to other countries, the United States will also have to compete in an increasingly crowded export market.
Another consideration is the rise of domestic production in legal cannabis markets. Many legal countries have historically relied on cannabis imports because their own production was either prohibited or their production infrastructure was not developed. But as time goes by, many of those same countries will increasingly produce their own medical cannabis, reducing the reliance on imports from other markets. Cannabis is, at the end of the day, an agricultural crop, and there will always be a need for imports and exports of it, but with the U.S. having already ceded such a big head start to other nations, it will be interesting to see if it can catch up or not. Only time will tell.
