CBD product sales to reach $646 million by 2022, says Hemp Business Journal

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Hemp-derived CBD retail sales are estimated to exceed $646 million in the U.S. by the year 2022, according to “The CBD Report” published by the Hemp Business Journal. The natural product and specialty market channel will make up an estimated $184.3 million of the projected $646 million in sales. Currently, retail sales of CBD products have reached $264 million in 2018, $57.5 million of which can be attributed to the natural and specialty channels.

According to hemp-advocacy group Vote Hemp, the CBD product category has grown an enormous 404% since the Farm Bill passed in 2014-a bill which included a section called “Legitimacy of Industrial Hemp Research” and allowed agricultural pilot programs for the growth of hemp by institutions of higher education and State departments of agriculture. This piece of legislation indirectly encouraged the manufacturing and sale of hemp-derived CBD products despite the lack of clarity about whether or not the sale and transport of such products across state lines was legal. However, the growth of the category and the demand for hemp-derived CBD products cannot be ignored. As states struggle individually to pass laws legalizing recreational marijuana, the Senate recently passed the Hemp Farming Act, which is being negotiated in Congress.

This new bill passed by the Senate places regulatory authority of hemp on the U.S. Department of Agriculture; clearly separates hemp and hemp-derived products from their psychoactive cousin, marijuana; and removes roadblocks to the growing hemp industry such as restrictions on banking, and authorizing federal funding for hemp research, explained Vote Hemp in a press release.