UK now has the world’s most advanced regulatory framework for CBD
Consumer demand for CBD products has skyrocketed during lockdown, according to the Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (ACI), which estimates the sector will generate £ 690million in annual sales this year, above from a previous forecast of £ 526million.
$ 5.2 billion in the global CBD nutraceutical industry through 2027
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global CBD nutraceuticals market estimated at US $ 5.2 billion in 2020, is expected to reach a revised size of US $ 16.4 billion by 2027, with a CAGR ( Compound annual growth rate) of 17.7% over the analysis period 2020-2027.
The body’s new report, co-authored with the Center for Medicinal Cannabis (CMC), concludes that the UK now has the world’s most advanced regulatory framework for CBD, citing recent interventions by the Foods Standards Agency to determine what levels are safe and tolerable. of THC contained in the products. The FSA began formally accepting requests from Novel Foods for CBD products from January 2021.
The report, titled, argued that the UK market represents a key growth sector for the UK and it is time for the government to adopt a proactive strategy to seize opportunities in cannabinoids.
The authors of the report call for a dedicated agency to license and oversee the industry; a new center of excellence to fund, synthesize and disseminate the best new clinical evidence to drive the emerging UK medicinal cannabis market; and urgent licensing policy reform to guide and harness emerging scientific evidence across the spectrum: from agri-science and plant genetics to new synthetics, new therapies and clinical trials.
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“The size of this cannabinoid sector is now impossible to ignore. Today’s report reveals that sales of CBD products through the end of April 2021 are valued at £ 690million, nearly a third higher than our last projection in 2019, ”said said Paul Birch, co-founder of CMC and ACI, adding: “Almost without advice and certainly by accident rather than conception, the UK has become the improbably second largest market for consumer cannabinoids in the world.”
He observed the size of the cannabinoid sector is “becoming impossible to ignore … We are now switching more cannabis extracts than vitamin B and C combined.” “
He said that regulatory confusion in the run-up to confirmation of the novel food status of CBD extracts allowed a “gray” market to flourish, which created huge consumer demand for these products, a pandemic broke out. predictably accelerated given what we know why people buy CBD. But it remains a sector that depends entirely on foreign importation of raw materials and is now crying for a public policy framework to harness the latent economic and social benefits of cannabinoids ”.
The report comes after the FSA released its list of CBD products that may remain on sale in the UK until a decision on their clearance is made. This list, when it was first published in late April, contained just 22 products from just three countries. Sarah Ellson, Co-Director of Regulatory and Cannabis Expert at Fieldfisher, said the short list of permitted products – of around 400 applications in total from CBD products intended for food or drink – was surprising and possibly worrying for the current state of the UK CBD market.
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However, it is believed that it could take up to a year for CBD products to get the green light, due to the need to submit tedious toxicology dossiers before they can receive FSA clearance. The FSA’s list of CBD products that can remain for sale in the UK until final approval is updated weekly as the FSA processes applications and now has 44 products manufactured by four companies . Meanwhile, no CBD product that has sought FSA clearance to remain on the market appears to have been rejected.
Moore told FoodNavigator that he expects all applications submitted by ICA members (covering hundreds of products from 17 companies) to be approved by summer 2022. He added that he expects members to be able to sell CBD products in continental European markets. At the end of last year, the European Commission resumed applications of novel foods for CBD edibles.
Approvals here in the UK should also meet all EU requirements.
The CBD nutraceuticals market in the United States is estimated at US $ 1.4 billion in 2020. China, the world’s second-largest economy, is expected to reach a projected market size of US $ 3.8 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 22.6%. over the analysis period 2020 to 2027. Other notable geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecasting growth of 12.9% and 15.6% respectively over the period 2020-2027. In Europe, Germany is expected to grow by around 14% CAGR.
