Canada-based Instadose Pharma Corp completed a world record shipment of 2.125 tonnes of medicinal cannabis from South Africa to North Macedonia on 25 December 2021, boosting hopes that the African cannabis market will be worth over $7bn annually by 2023. A 2020 report by Prohibition Partners estimates that the bulk of the market will reside in five countries: Nigeria ($3.7bn), South Africa ($1.7bn), Morocco ($900m), Lesotho ($90m) and Zimbabwe ($80m), if the necessary legislation is introduced. Despite industry concerns about regulation, progress in South Africa is “undeniable”. The country produced a cannabis master plan and has taken steps to allow the commercial cultivation of hemp, a botanical class of cannabis that contains less THC, the psychoactive compound that causes a “high”.
SOURCE: AFRICAN BUSINESS
