CPlant, a cannabis, and hemp company based in Uruguay providing high-quality hemp flowers and feminized CBD seeds, is currently negotiating with the Uruguayan authorities to grow and export cannabis flowers for medicinal purposes.
Cannabis flowers: from a cultural drug to an agricultural product.
According to the Buenos Aires Profile newspaper, Paraguay benefits from unique conditions to grow cannabis.
Paraguay could become the new top competitor to produce cannabis in Latin America, competing with Colombia and Uruguay, where medical marijuana is legal. In Paraguay, medical cannabis has been legal since 2017. Moreover, The country benefits from inexpensive public services, low wages, and an efficient pharmaceutical industry.
According to Profile, CPlant Switzerland wishes to buy a licensed producer in Paraguay to grow flowers and high-THC derivatives to supply the company’s Swiss laboratory at the beginning of 2022, CEO Lucas Crivilone said.
While cannabis prices continue to fall, CPlant plans to move most of its cultivation from Uruguay to Paraguay. “the operating costs are 50% lower”, the CEO added.
“We would go to Paraguay if regulation accompanies us and market prices allow us to have a substantially higher profit margin in Paraguay than in Uruguay. We will aim to plant crops in Paraguay,” Crivilone told Perfil in a telephone interview.
Currently, the production of cannabis for medicinal purposes is limited to 12 local investors in Paraguay. Three of those 12 companies supply CBD oils and capsules to the pharmaceutical industry and the Paraguayan Ministry of Health, Profile explained.
CPlant plans to grow flowers high in THC in both Uruguay and Paraguay.
CPlant could grow up to 5 hectares of high THC flowers in Paraguay by 2024, Crivilone said. The transition to THC usually occurs when the prices of CBD products drop.
According to the Buenos Aires Profile newspaper, the company already produces cannabis for CBD products in Uruguay.
The prices of CBD flowers fell 20% in 2021 compared to the previous year, explained Crivilone, who plans to produce 15 to 25 tons of flowers in Uruguay in 2022, compared to 9 tons in 2021. The company added that sales would double to 8 million dollars thanks to the launch of new products and higher production.
Since 2019, Uruguay has shipped more than 32 metric tons of flowers, biomass, seeds, and medical products to Switzerland, Germany, and Portugal.
“We are convinced that this will be the dominant model,” said Chief Strategic Officer (CSO) Guido Husni. “Agriculture requires a lot of work and investment. We completely exited that part of the business to focus on sales and finished products.”