How supply chain problems have impacted the cannabis industry

Just as the cannabis industry began to make headway, the world panicked due to COVID-19. The way the pandemic has impacted the supply chain across industries has made life difficult for consumers of products across the board – and the cannabis industry was no exception.

Here are just a few examples of how the industry has struggled through recent supply chain challenges.

Cannabis companies have a harder time finding basic supplies

The process of making cannabis products available to consumers becomes all the more difficult if they fail to find the supplies they need to make and pack them in a timely manner. Some of the products that are becoming increasingly difficult for cannabis makers to find include things that consumers may no longer like Hardware that is vaporized Cannabis products.

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To make matters worse, most cannabis retailers rely on Chinese factories to manufacture these products, as not many domestic factories are equipped to manufacture these types of products. Although most Chinese factories are back to work, many have social distancing policies in place that have made it difficult for them to produce supplies at a rate efficient enough to keep up with demand.

Growing inventory prices are unpredictable

Cannabis dealers cannot sell products they cannot grow. One of the biggest obstacles cannabis retailers are facing right now is the fact that the supplies that enable it to grow are becoming increasingly expensive. Corresponding current reportsThe volatility in the industry has resulted in many growers buying products such as fertilizers, grow lights, and other materials in bulk for a variety of reasons.

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The first reason is that there is currently a 2 to 3 month delay in receiving the products. Next, they hope to avoid price hikes that experts say are almost inevitable. Although the volatile market within the cannabis supply industry began at the start of the pandemic in early 2020, it shows no signs of an end anytime soon.

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Lack of new talent in the cannabis industry able to solve supply chain related problems

The challenges the cannabis industry is currently facing are compounded by the complex regulatory nature of the industry itself. To make matters worse, the industry is relatively new, so there are few people who have both experience with navigation in its highly regulated nature and experience with supply chain management. This presents the challenge of hiring new employees from different industries to deal with supply chain issues that can lead to costly mistakes.

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This is often the case because of the many newcomers to the cannabis industry have no precise understanding how exactly regulated cannabis markets work. This is costing cannabis retailers because not only are they still facing the same supply chain problems they originally faced, but now they have to correct their mistakes, which costs time and money.

For the most part, supply chain challenges have not yet affected most recreational cannabis customers. Because the challenges cannabis retailers and product manufacturers face are not going to go away anytime soon, the best scenario is when they can successfully adjust to a new normal. If they cannot maintain their business models, there is no telling what that means for consumers in the long run.