The food CBD market in the United States is experiencing a real boom!
On the one hand, an increasingly vast offer and a growing number of companies are entering the market. And on the other, the creation of a capillary distribution system.
The drinks and beverage sector seems to benefit above all from this and, since CBD is legal in the US, you can now buy high quality CBD product at JustBob.
CBD DRINKS: THE STARS AND STRIPES OVERVIEW
The food CBD industry, particularly for beverages, is receiving increasing attention from some of the largest companies in the world.
There has been tremendous interest not only among cannabis companies but also among “major beverage companies”, explained the president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp (ATACH).
Numerous companies in the beverage sector are expanding their offer using cannabis and food CBD – offering products ranging from CBD sports drinks to THC-infused alcoholic beverages – which, starting from their native state, have little expanded its distribution to more territories with stars and stripes.
Among these is Molson Coors Beverage Co., for example, which in the fall of 2021 expanded the distribution of its CBD beverage line; Truss, with the support of Hexo Corp., a Canadian cannabis grower; now, starting from Colorado, the network has reached 17 states.
In the same vein, Canopy Growth Corp., after launching Quatreau, the line of CBD drinks, has recently also started collaborating with Karma Water, a functional drinks company based in New York, to launch a water CBD which will be distributed in the United States through a network of approximately 25,000 resellers.
THE MARKET FOR CBD DRINKS IN THE UNITED STATES
Despite the increase in supply and the already regulated use of CBD in the food sector – as opposed to what happens in Europe, where we are waiting for the regulation for its use as Novel Food.
However, according to a market analysis conducted by NielsenIQ, in March 2021, sales of CBD-containing and hemp-derived beverages recorded a 32% decline in major grocery, pharmacy and convenience chains compared to the same period last year.
Furthermore, the beverage sector seems to be the most affected by the crisis: in the same period, in the case of edible CBD products, sales fell by only 13%. Yet the enthusiasm of the industry players is growing.
CBD DRINKS: THE REASONS FOR ENTHUSIASM
To fuel the interest of the leading companies, there is first of all the commitment of the producers of alcoholic drinks in looking for new products to offer as an alternative to the traditional ones, which have been suffering a continuous decline in sales for over ten years.
The most affected, among alcoholic beverages, seems to be beer. If in the “Baby Boomers” and “Generation X” generations, the drink represents 50% of consumption, in fact, for the “Millennials,” the percentage drops to 25% and the “Generation Z” even at 12.5%.
Then, there is the improvement of the offer, with cannabis and CBD drinks with an ever-changing and markedly improved flavor compared to a few years ago, when consumers were not convinced by the chlorophyll flavor or the aftertaste left behind from the molecules of fat-soluble cannabinoids. Finally, the reduction of places where smokers are allowed to consume cannabis needs an alternative.
These new drinks are among the most profitable products in the food industry!
Everyone is interested in the innovation roadmaps to capture interest and make consumption possible at different parts of the day and on other occasions. And, in addition, consumers are looking for foods that are more satisfying in taste.
The latest research, in collaboration with Ipsos, also confirms the enthusiasm, from which, probing the opinion of 1,100 consumers who live in states where cannabis is also legal for recreational use, it emerged that the CBD drink sector is booming!
Drinks may not be used as frequently as other products – flowers, vaporizers, edibles – but “they are more frequently used on social occasions”, Brace concluded.
MEANWHILE, IN EUROPE WITH CBD FOOD: THE SECTOR INDUSTRY AGAINST THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
As for Europe, it continues, in December 2020, the European Commission communicated that CBD could be qualified as a food, but there seems to have been no progress since then. The cannabis industry, therefore, moves against the errors and stagnation of the European Commission.
Despite an apparent first step forward by the European Commission towards CBD and its applications in the food sector, the current situation appears to be stagnant. It even seems to lead to a change of course.
Currently, numerous projects related to synthetic CBD are in the validation and risk assessment phase by the European Food Safety Authority.
However, the lack of progress of the more than 130 applications worries some players in the sector, convinced that the European Commission is about to embark on a damaging turnaround on the state of CBD.
The situation across the Channel is emblematic where in the United Kingdom three quarters of applications related to Novel Food products based on CBD have already been refused.
