A Brief Analysis of Latin American Cannabis Growing

In 2021, the growth of the market for products based on the therapeutic properties of cannabis showed the highest rate in the industry (27%) and, according to experts, in the medium term, it will grow exponentially.

The editors of the specialized electronic edition of national cannabis growers devote a lot of time and attention to describing the forms and methods of development of modern cannabis growing in Europe, Asia, Australia, and also North America. Very rarely we get into our field of vision any information useful for the study of national cannabis growers, whose roots are in Africa. From our point of view, absolutely objective are the claims made by our regular readers and listeners about the fact that extremely little attention is paid to the situation in the field of modern cannabis growing in Latin America, despite the fact that this region of the global hemp market is rapidly developing and is what to learn from a number of American states that use Romance languages ​​as official languages. 

Considering the fact that the editorial office has very little systematized information regarding the development of various sectors of modern cannabis farming in Latin America, we turned to our colleagues from the information and analytical platform Hemp Consulting for brief explanations of the situation in individual countries of the region. We publish the information provided by Hemp Consulting specialists without any changes or cuts.

Despite the fact that the hemp industry in Latin America is mostly in its infancy, its explosive growth is due to the rapid expansion of consumer access to various forms of hemp products (food, cosmetics, pet supplies, various kinds of additives, etc.) ... In 2021, the growth of the market for products based on the therapeutic properties of cannabis showed the highest rate in the industry (27%) and, according to experts, in the medium term, it will grow exponentially, given the fact that most of the countries in the region that already have legislation on use of the plant (Chile, Colombia, Peru and Argentina) are allowed to be used for medical purposes only. In particular, according to Euromonitor estimates, in 2026 the regional market for medicinal cannabis in this region could reach the $ 1.2 billion mark. 

The key indicators of the development of the modern hemp market in Latin American countries is that the volume of this market in 2021 will exceed $ 170 million, and according to the forecasts of a number of analytical and consulting companies specializing in the analysis of this market, in the short term, the hemp market of Chile, Colombia, Peru , Argentina, Mexico, and a number of other countries in the region expect explosive growth.

It is necessary to distinguish between several key areas of use of the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant in individual countries of the region. It should be noted right away that a number of Latin American countries are at the initial stage of the industry's development. For example, only at the end of November 2021, the Constitutional Chamber of Costa Rica adopted as a basic bill aimed at legalizing the production and sale of hemp products made from low-drug and medical hemp. Most likely, this initiative will find support in the country's Congress, which will become the foundation for the development of the state's hemp industry.

The states in which the therapeutic properties of the plant are trying to impose on the market, first of all, have already been determined by pharmaceutical companies. In particular, this year, the Mexican cannabis market, which has been growing for several years in a row, once again showed an increase of 17% and reached $ 59 million, with the sector using the therapeutic properties of the plant showing the largest growth rates. According to a number of market experts, already in 2022 the potential market for hemp drugs in Mexico will become the largest in the region with a volume of more than $ 40 million. , processing and sale of medical cannabis, as well as the production of pharmaceuticals from this raw material with a huge added value.

On the other hand, in Chile, since the regulation of the use of the therapeutic properties of cannabis, an extensive network of patients and non-governmental organizations has been created, guaranteeing access to the therapeutic properties of the plant to more than 150,000 consumers. Given the high cost of cannabis medicines, a minimal part of the country's population uses plant-based pharmaceuticals, while the vast majority of the country's citizens have gained access to the therapeutic properties of cannabis through legal cultivation at home or in communities. 

Just like in all other countries, consumers in Latin America have recently preferred to use the therapeutic properties of cannabis in the form of extremely expensive and often ineffective pharmacological preparations that have huge side effects. A clearly expressed trend of the last few years is the use of various types of hemp products with significant therapeutic properties. Such preferences include food products, cosmetic products, as well as various kinds of additives in which therapeutically active elements of the hemp plant are used without or with minimal effect on them, which leads to obtaining the maximum therapeutic effect at the minimum cost of the final product.

Commentary of the specialists of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"

As in other regions of the world, there is a clear trend in Latin America, according to which the consumer wants to receive the maximum amount of therapeutically active elements of the hemp plant at the lowest price. There are several mechanisms tested in individual countries, according to which the state regulates the possibilities of using the therapeutic properties of a plant by consumers who are allowed to legally grow, as well as use leaves and inflorescences with significant therapeutic potential, or develop modern hemp industries that manufacture goods based on the therapeutic properties of a plant with minimal impact on hemp raw materials (food, cosmetics, various additives, etc.). The direction of development of national legislation on this issue depends only on the citizens of our country. Either we accept the paradigm imposed on us that only pharmacological drugs with huge added value made on the basis of the therapeutic properties inherent in the plant by nature will become a panacea on the market, or a regulatory and legal framework will be formed, according to which the existing one will be simplified for the citizens of our country. a procedure regulating the cultivation, processing (excluding extraction), as well as the use of the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant for industrial use. At the same time, it is necessary for the national industry to create such conditions under which export-oriented goods will be created in Ukraine, which already have a huge demand in the global hemp market.