Over the past month, one thing has become clear. There is a shortage of compliant extraction material on the California market. If you ask any large processor / extractor in the state of California you’ll quickly notice the scale of this problem. Everyone is having it.
This is a problem. Let me briefly break down how big the problem is. Having a robust extractions market is incredibly important to the industry. First off, the process of extracting your flower or trim takes your inventory down to a 10th of the weight and 1,000th of the size. It’s a way of storing your harvest in a more efficient way that preserves its value. Additionally, to preserve the value of raw material in its raw form you need to store it under a nitrogen seal in a dark climate controlled environment, and you have to carefully monitor moisture otherwise your whole harvest can mold in a matter of days.
The business model of an extractor is pretty simple. Find raw material, extract it, and then you either package the oil and sell it to a distributor/retailer or sell it another product manufacturer to make everything from edibles to vape cartridges. Most people don’t realize that the extractions market is huge. You need some form of concentrate to make most products that aren’t raw buds or pre-rolls. This includes:
- Edibles
- Capsules
- Topicals
- Vape Cartridges
- Dabs
- Infused Joints
- Dog Teats
- Many More…
If California doesn’t build out the extractions market, the farms are going to suffer at fall harvest. The current market is in trouble because sourcing compliant pesticide free raw material is difficult. Multiple buyers we’ve spoken to recently can’t source enough material to cover overhead and pay their bills. Additionally, we’ve heard of big problems with extractors finding a large source, purchasing it, and then realizing that the final extracted material doesn’t pass pesticide testing because the pesticides were concentrated along with the cannabinoids and terpenes. This is a huge loss to the extractors.
This could be a big problem because if enough extractors go out of business or if the state / county doesn’t support this sector of the market it could make even more trouble. Farms could have to wait months to get their harvest extracted if the fall harvest of raw material floods an under developed extractions market. This could tank the price, because many farms don’t have the capability of correctly storing raw material at their facility. We hope we can have an impact in helping this extractions market on Kush Marketplace, but I’ll be honest. Sourcing is an issue in the current environment. As soon as something of quality comes up it sells quickly because buyers are incredibly hungry. Additionally, not all farms are up and running since the switch of regulations on July 1st, and many are still operating on the unregulated grey / black market. These people can’t sell into the regulated market anymore.
So if you have any extraction material available, list it on the marketplace. We’ll make sure you get a good price. If you’re looking for extraction material, join the club. One way you could get early access to inventory is to go to the marketplace, set a saved search with your purchasing criteria and enter your phone number. This way as soon as new material hits the market you’ll be texted a photo and price of the product so you can make an offer / request more information before anyone else does. Read our buyer tips below.