Experts have been predicting the rise in the CBD market for years, based on the trends in growth and acceptance. In the US, it was set to reach $20 billion by 2020, but new predictions show that it’s turning into a mega-industry at this point. A report by the Brightfield Group shows that the market for hemp-CBD alone could reach $22 billion in the year 2022. Kismet, anyone?
Of course, CBD products and goods are now found in many stores, from beauty aisles and food stores to clinics and cafes. The earlier rise in the CBD market was connected to states that allowed regulation and testing of CBD, which led to many effective and potent products made with CBD. A lot of people now want to buy CBD products for many common issues that they may have been using medications for, such as skin conditions, arthritis, anxiety, depression and more.
The real surge in the CBD profits occurred as a result of the introduction of the Farm Bill in 2018. This bill re-legalized hemp farming. It passed on the federal level, allowing hemp-CBD’s by-products to become legal. After the bill passed, Brightfield experts found a huge change in predictions due to the legalization of hemp farming.
“The CBD market is the most fascinating market I’ve ever covered. Despite all the hurdles, the legal gray area and restrictions on distribution, marketing and even credit card payments, CBD has grown by more than 80 percent over the past year.”
–Bethany Gómez, Brightfield Group
Projections for the CBD market changed substantially because hemp legalization was estimated to be further away. The shift in projections was based on several changes in the methodology. Brightfield Groups now applied an approach that “incorporates information gleaned from hundreds of manufacturer, industry and distributor interviews and calls, detailed consumer sales and survey data drawn from thousands of hemp CBD users, as well as statistics and insight collected from extensive desk research…”
Taking into account the new driving factors for the CBD market, the Director of Research at the Brightfield Group, Bethany Gómez, said, “The CBD market is the most fascinating market I’ve ever covered. Despite all the hurdles, the legal gray area and restrictions on distribution, marketing and even credit card payments, CBD has grown by more than 80 percent over the past year. In the absence of large companies and large-scale marketing campaigns, this industry has emerged due almost exclusively to word-of-mouth advertising. Nearly half (47 percent) of all CBD consumers first heard about the product from friends or family, while less than 10 percent heard about it from the news or traditional advertising.”
However, the legalization of farming hemp isn’t the only driving factor for such tremendous growth. Additional drivers include increase in investment; wellness trends that have resulted in hemp CBD becoming more popular than pharmaceutical products; distribution channels have improved and evolved, expansion of CBD products and immense innovation and more.
The future of CBD is one that signifies a lot of growth in the coming years. With most experts agreeing that the industry is set to keep growing, there’s no doubt that it’s definitely turning into a mega multi-billion-dollar market.
$22 billion in 2022, it would seem, is just the beginning.