Hemp drinks are seen as a driving force in the food sector using the plant's therapeutic properties
The market for hemp drinks is at an early stage of development not only in economically developed countries, but also in Ukraine. Its rapid growth in our country is constrained by the lack of an appropriate regulatory framework governing the maximum allowable amount of tetrahydrocannabinol in the final product. If this kind of departmental document is adopted, it will be possible to use the leaves and inflorescences of therapeutic hemp in the formulations of drinks that can legally be sold on the territory of our country.
On the pages of the specialized electronic edition of national cannabis growers, we quite often consider such a segment of the food market as hemp drinks. At the end of 2020, we tried to make a thesis assessment of the “ Global market for cannabinoid drinks ”. How relevant is the direction of using therapeutically active elements of hemp in the production of various types of drinks, let us try to analyze in this material.
According to a number of experts in the global hemp market, drinks that contain various hemp ingredients with significant therapeutic properties are rapidly becoming one of the main growth trends in the rapidly developing sector of using the plant as food.
After Constellation Brands, Inc. invested $ 4 billion in Canopy Growth Corporation, a trend has emerged according to which hemp drinks can become one of the main components of the food market in the long term. Immediately after "Constellation Brands, Inc." other alcohol companies began to rapidly invest resources in joint ventures with hemp companies to create drinks made using various components of the hemp plant (primarily with the use of therapeutically active elements of the hemp plant). For example, thanks to a partnership with the HEXO Corporation, Molson Coors joined this segment, as well as a number of other large companies that specialize in the production or distribution of alcoholic / low-alcohol / non-alcoholic beverages. Another major player in the global hemp market, Aphria took a different approach from Canopy Growth Corporation and HEXO Corporation, acquiring SweetWater Brewing Company for approximately $ 300 million.
Our foreign colleagues specializing in collecting data on the international hemp market have published a report, which indicates that sales of drinks that include various hemp ingredients continue to grow rapidly despite the coronavirus pandemic. This growth in the market is associated with several key factors:
- advances in technology for infusing cannabinoids into various types of drinks;
- an increase in the number of new brands aimed at using various components of the plant in the production of non-alcoholic / low-alcohol / alcoholic beverages;
- the expected rapid increase in the market for cannabinoid drinks in economically developed countries of the world (primarily in Canada, USA, EU countries).
Commentary of the specialists of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"
The market for hemp drinks is at an early stage of development not only in economically developed countries, but also in Ukraine. Its rapid growth in our country is constrained by the lack of an appropriate regulatory framework governing the maximum allowable amount of tetrahydrocannabinol in the final product. If this kind of departmental document is adopted, it will be possible to use the leaves and inflorescences of therapeutic hemp in the formulations of drinks that can legally be sold on the territory of our country.