Hemp Beverage Pricing
As a reminder the market consists of products containing D9 THC, CBD, CBG, D8 THC and CBGa. These products are sold primarily in cans, bottles and shots of various sizes. D9 THC, and to a lesser degree CBD, products dominate the market. Products are most commonly sold in 12 ounce cans.
There is great divergence in how hemp beverages are priced in the US marketplace. First, there are a number of different packaging alternatives including bottles, cans and shots. Each of the various packages come in a number of different sizes as well. Most importantly, each product is unique with different active ingredients, different concentrations and different characteristics as discussed in the previous section.
The following chart shows that size alone is not a great indicator of value as prices are similar regardless of size, with the exception that the very largest bottles appear to be the most costly. Clearly the mix of ingredients is a crucial element to perceived value in the market. Finally, because many of the size categories have only a limited number of products, the numbers on this charts reveal many anomalies.
Since 12 ounce cans are by far the most prevalent offering in the hemp beverage market, focusing on this segment allows us to discern the general pricing tendency in hemp beverages. The following chart clearly shows that most 12 ounce products, regardless of ingredients, fall within the $4.00 to $6.50 range with a median price of $5.49. The average price of $6.47 is skewed by a number of premium-priced high-concentration products.
D9 THC Pricing
D9 THC is the dominant product in the marketplace so we begin by looking at pricing in this category. The following chart shows the number of offerings of D9 products at each MG level. Clearly 5MG and 10MG products are most prevalent followed by 100mg products.
Looking at the average cost by MG size, we can see there is a slight upward trend in price as the MG dosage gets higher. Remember since 5MG and 10MG dominate this category, these are the most relevant prices to consider. 5MG products cost $6.48 on average, 10MG products cost $8.20 on average and 100MG products cost $15.00 on average.
Looking at cost per MG of D9 THC, we can clearly see that the cost (per MG of D9) declines as the product MG increases. An average cost/MG is meaningless as the data is overwhelmed by the high MG / high cost products.
D9 + CBD Pricing
D9 THC is combined with CBD in many products. This is the 2nd largest category of hemp beverage behind only thepure D9 products. The chart below shows the number of offerings by D9+CBD MG container for these products. Most of the products fall within the 5MG to 30MG range.
Looking at the average cost by concentration (of D9 + CBD), there doesn’t seem to be a big correlation between MGs and cost as most products fall within the $6-$8 range. This implies that the high concentration drinks offer better MG to cost value.
As anticipated from the previous data we can see in the chart below that cost per unit of D9 + CBD goes down as the dosage goes up.
Next we look at the mix of D9 and CBD in the combination D9 + CBD product. At various sizes the concentration of one ingredient or the other seems to dominate but overall there doesn’t seem to be any discernible pattern. On a whole, it appears that D9 and CBD are represented fairly evenly across this combination category.
CBD Pricing
The next largest product category is CBD-infused drinks, comprising about 14% of the marketplace. Offerings in this group are pretty much limited to the 10MG-50MG range.
Other than an anomaly at the 15MG level, the pricing for CBD-infused drinks appears to be relatively flat regardless of CBD concentration.
In terms of value it seems the cost per MG of CBD goes down, albeit unevenly, as the unit size increases.
D9 + CBD + CBG Pricing
The final category of significance is the D9 + CBD + CBG combination product group which represents about 4% of all products available. Below is a chart of offerings by MG size for this category. As a smaller group of products, concentrations are limited to 4MG to 53MG.
Disregarding the anomaly at the 4MG level, the cost of D9 + CBD + CBG products rises gradually as concentrations increase.
Like the other categories, the cost per MG of active ingredient goes down as the MGs in the product increase.
Mix of Ingredients
Similar to the D9 + CBD products, there doesn’t seem to be any real pattern to the relative doses of D9, CBD or CBG in these products. Taken as a category, there is on average about 40% D9 in these products and about 30% each CBD and CBG.
Comparison Pricing
Pricing data is of mutual significance to both the consumer and brands. While, the consumer buys on financial availability of the levels of milligrams of cannabinoids, brands use retailers and distributors to analyze what price their product should be sold.
