Bulk Hemp Flower & Pre-Packaged Hemp Flower Pricing Trend:  USDA Interim Hemp Rule

On October 31, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its interim final rule. 

The Interim Rule provides regulatory clarity on hemp production, including states’ obligation to offer state hemp plans before executing state in-housel hemp rules.  

The USDA also allowed the public to give feedback on proposed rules about the production before issuing the final rule. 

This rule has and will be effective from October 31, 2019, through to November 1, 2021.

CBD Smokable Hemp Flower: Where are we?

Despite the federal legalization of hemp, some states have enacted total or partial bans on smokable flower and CBD Vape products.

The rationale for banning smokable hemp lies partially in the difficulty in distinguishing it from cannabis with THC content above the federally legal level. This leads to complications with law enforcement, who don’t have access to on-site THC-test equipment. 

In general, vaping products have come under increased scrutiny due to a number of deaths and illnesses associated with tobacco vape products. Businesses that sell vapes must contend with bans, and in some instances with additional difficulties obtaining merchant processing.  

For better or worse, the regulatory landscape shapes the market, and understanding that landscape and being able to accurately predict regulatory shifts can drive major business decisions. 

In Texas, for example, commercial Hemp is legal to grow, but the smokable CBD Hemp flower is banned.

Texas House Bill 1325 made the cultivation, production, and distribution of Hemp and Hemp-derived CBD products legal.

The bill singles out smokeable CBD hemp flower, strictly prohibiting its cultivation for smoking purposes, but does not prohibit smokable CBD products’ retail sales.

So, until (and unless) the state law officially prohibits the sale and possession of hemp flower in Texas, consumers can purchase hemp flower produced outside of the state, which means people in Texas can buy Hemp online but not from the local street-side dispensary businesses.

Add Stats about Texas Hemp Businesses (Pulled From Our Database)

If you’re curious or uncertain whether your state is smokable-hemp-friendly, please click here and check out your state’s legal status.

Bulk & Pre-Packaged Hemp Flower Pricing Trends:

Now that we’ve had some context, let’s look at the price trends of Bulk Hemp Flower and Pre-Packaged (Branded) Hemp Flower, and observe how it has moved as a whole from May through to September.

We began the benchmark for the Hemp Flower pricing trend in May 2020, where bulk Hemp Flower was going for an average of $225 per pound(LBS) wholesale.

By June 2020, the price had dropped to an average of $180 per pound, dipping by 20%.

And by July, the price of Hemp Flower stood at $195 per pound, experiencing a slight price increase of 8.3% from June 2020.

By August, the price of wholesale Hemp flower was $172 per pound, declining by 11.8 %.

In September 2020, bulk CBD Hemp Flower is going at $165 per pound, representing a 26.7 % overall price drop over the past five months.

 We see a vast gap in pricing when we compare the price trend of CBD Hemp Flower with the same movement in Pre-Packaged CBD Hemp Flower.

In May 2020, pre-packaged hemp flower was selling at $383 per pound(LBS) wholesale, a considerable 41.25% more expensive than the Bulk CBD Hemp flower.

By June 2020, the pre-packaged Hemp flower price had dropped to $367 per pound, slipping by 4.17%.

By July, the pre-packaged Hemp Flower price stood at $252 per pound, a substantial overall price decrease of  31.3% from June 2020. (Unlike Bulk CBD Hemp Flower, which saw a slight  8.3% price increase during the same time). 

In August, the wholesale price for pre-packaged CBD Hemp flower was selling for $245 per pound, a mere decline of 2.8 % from July.

Thus far in September,  pre-packaged CBD Hemp flower sold at $214 per pound, representing a 12.7%  price drop from August, and a 44.13% price drop from May 2020 through to September.

The following chart shows wholesale pricing for hemp flower bulk vs pre-packaged hemp flower (per gram) price trends over the same period.

Final Insights:

The current price of CBD Hemp Flower stands at $165 per pound, while Pre-Packaged CBD Hemp Flower is selling at $214 per pound.

There is still a considerable price gap of 29.6%, but compared with our original benchmark price trends in May, the price gap has decreased by 11.65% from the initial 41.25% price trend difference between Bulk and Pre-Packaged Hemp Flower.

At a glance, one can see that the overall price difference between Bulk CBD Flower and Pre-Packaged CBD flower has decreased considerably in the middle of the second quarter, from May through July.
Respectively each product has also seen a decrease in price since May, at 22.67% price decrease for Bulk Hemp Flower and a 44.12 % price decrease for Pre-Packaged Hemp Flower, a collective 33.4% price drop since May 2020.

Related Reads:

Is It Legal to Smoke Hemp Where I Live?:
This article explores the state and federal legal system’s complications in buying and consuming hemp flowers. The post also contains a list, updated on the 25th of August 2020, of some states that aren’t very smokable-hemp-friendly.

Hemp & CBD Market Value: Price Trends for Crude, Isolate, flower, Biomass, etc.
This great in-depth post that goes into the price trends by hemp product also looks at some of the underlying factors of Trends Based on THC Content, Volume, and Quality.
It also discusses Market Supply and provides some insightful ‘future forecast”.

Establishment of a Domestic Hemp Production Program: Rules & Regulations
This page contains information about the USDA Interim Hemp Rule and information about the comment period’s reopening, giving interested persons an additional opportunity to comment on the IFR.
They solicit comments from all stakeholders, notably those subject to the IFR’s regulatory requirements during the 2020 production cycle.