Cannabis Extraction: an overview and future projects of the industry
The Cannabis Extraction industry is evolving under every point of view and demand, offers, people involved and new technologies are increasing.
Prohibition Partners in its latest “The cannabis extraction report” has shared an overview of the situation.
What do we mean by “extraction” in the cannabis world?
Cannabis extraction is the process that allows the separation of its active ingredients from the cannabis biomass. The aim is to create extractions and concentrates for different uses, from the medical, therapeutic and industrial use, to the food and cosmetic industry.
There are many ways to extract cannabis and they can be differentiated by the method or instruments used. On one hand there is extraction with solvents like propane, or butane, ethanol or carbon dioxide, that allow the separation of the different compounds from the plant matter; on the other hand there is extraction without solvents which, through pressure, heat and water, allow the production of concentrates based on chemical and physical formulas.
The differences between full-spectrum, broad-spectrum and isolated products
The method used during the extraction of cannabis creates not only differences at the moment of the process itself, but even in the result. Based on the process, in fact, the cannabis extracts are then refined differentiating between full-spectrum (complete spectrum), from which no elements are eliminated (neither cannabinoids,nor terpenes); broad-spectrum ,which vary from the first by the absence of a terpene or a cannabinoid (usually THC); or isolated, which contain only one cannabinoid or terpene. The purer the cannabinoids or the terpenes in the final product the greater the refinery process.
The industry of extraction of cannabis: an overview
To keep on track with the continuous variations in the norms of each single State and, as a result, with the demand from companies and consumers, the industry of the extraction of cannabis is not only growing, but changing and innovating its methods and proposals to improve its offers, efficiency, precision and competitiveness.
If at the beginning of this phenomenon the machines for cannabis extraction were owned by the same companies which controlled the entire system of distribution, today it’s quite a different scene: new expertise based on new technologies and methods that are better in terms of costs and safety. And leading these changes is also the new popularity that hemp products are gaining in the different areas of the market.
The Market’s demand: cannabis for therapeutic and holistic use
The main players in this industry are the products obtained from cannabis for holistic and therapeutic purposes based on what has been nominated “entourage effect”, meaning the synergic and positive results from cannabinoids and terpenes that have proven more and more popular in therapies based on cannabis for medical purposes. Leading this market are full-spectrum and broad-spectrum products, while the isolated ones are preferred, based on the norms that limit the levels of THC, in the cosmetic and food industry.
At the moment, based on the report shared by Prohibition Partners, North America and Canada are the leaders in the market of products derived from the extraction of cannabis – a market that’s going to reach 1.2 million dollars in 2025 in Canada alone.
Even in Europe, thanks to a less prohibitionist political stance, we are witnessing at a slow but constant growth in demand that could bring the continental market of products, based on cannabis extractions, to reach a value of 1.5 million euros in 2024.
To decide the future of the market the norms, of each single State, play a key role; that, not only could increase the productivity, but even the research and development. It will be vital, as well, the implementation of a norm on a European scale, that would overcome the fragmented regulations surrounding its market and its trade with markets from overseas.
