Why is information about the Israeli hemp market interesting to Ukrainian consumers?
Over the past year, Israel's medical cannabis exports have grown nearly sevenfold compared to the previous year, from 625 kg in 2023 to about 4.8 tons in 2024. The sharp increase in such transactions has made Israel the fourth-largest exporter of medical cannabis in the world, after Canada, Portugal and Denmark.
Taking into account the peculiarities of the current legislation of Ukraine, which predetermine the dominance of exports in the coming years of therapeutically active hemp from countries that specialize in such transactions, the editorial board of the specialized electronic publication of national hemp growers monitors trends demonstrating such trends. Considering the experience of Israel as one of the countries that at the state level raises the issue of the inadmissibility of dumping Canadian therapeutically active hemp to the “promised land”, we came across extremely interesting information that indicates which countries will soon export leaves and inflorescences of hemp plants with therapeutic properties to Ukraine, as well as their derivatives.
While Israel is locked in a bitter battle over the future of Canadian medical cannabis imports, unprecedented gains are being made on the export front.
Israeli
Medical Cannabis Export Volumes 2020-2024
The published data show that Over the past year, medical cannabis exports from Israel have grown nearly sevenfold compared to the previous year, from 625 kg in 2023 to approximately 4.8 tons in 2024. The sharp increase in such transactions has made Israel the fourth largest exporter of medical cannabis in the world, after Canada, Portugal and Denmark.
Countries
exporting the most medical cannabis in 2024
As can be seen from the graph below, the sharp increase in exports began only in July 2024, when their volumes in the first half of the year were still very small, as in previous years. The sharp change in trend indicates significant development of the local industry and strengthening of regulatory processes that began several years ago.
Israeli
Medical Cannabis Export Volumes 2024 – 01/2025
Portugal and
Malta are transit countries oriented towards the German market
At first glance, the main destination country for Israeli medical cannabis is Portugal, which imported about 2.5 tons from Israel in 2024 (approximately 51.5% of total Israeli exports). The second largest country in terms of import volume is Malta, with about 1.6 tons (about a third of total exports). Next come Australia with 572 kg (12% of exports) and Germany with 154 kg (3.2% of exports). Smaller volumes were exported to France (15 kg), Singapore (4 kg), and the United Kingdom (1 kg).
Israeli Medical Cannabis Export Destinations
In practice,
however, the data masks a more complex picture. The final destination for the
vast majority, if not all, of the cannabis exported to Portugal and Malta is
typically Germany, with these countries serving merely as transit points for
what is known in the industry as “laundering.”
Complex
Regulation: Why Israeli Cannabis Needs to Be 'Whitened'
The reason for this circumvention is of a regulatory nature: Germany requires that medical cannabis imported into the country comply with the European standard for cannabis EU - GMP , while in Israel the industry operates in accordance with the Israeli standard IMC - GMP . To date, there is not a single enterprise in Israel that complies with the required European standard.
In the
pharmaceutical world, there is “mutual recognition,” whereby European
authorities recognize the Israeli GMP standard for pharmaceuticals as equivalent and
identical to the European standard. A pharmaceutical factory that adheres to
the Israeli standard can export drugs to Europe without needing the European
standard. However, for some reason, such mutual recognition does not exist when
it comes to medical cannabis. The Israeli Ministry of Health is not working to
achieve mutual recognition of the standard for the plant.
Import Record:
Over 24 Tons of Medical Cannabis Imported to Israel
In parallel with
the growth in exports, the volume of medical cannabis imports to Israel also
increased significantly in 2024. During the year, 24.5 tons of cannabis were
imported to Israel, an increase of 42% compared to 2023, when 17.2 tons were
imported. This is an all-time record for imports to Israel, slightly exceeding
the previous record of 24.3 tons set in 2022.
The vast majority (81.3%) of medical cannabis imported to Israel comes from Canada, which exported about 20 tons to Israel in 2024. Another 4.5 tons (18.2%) came from Uganda, and smaller shipments – about 60 kg – from the Netherlands and Portugal.
