At SupplySide West last month in Las Vegas, an analyst presented data that highlighted the extraordinary growth of CBD across all channels tracked by SPINs, the market research firm.

Josh Long, Associate editorial director, Natural Products Insider

November 19, 2019

2 Min Read
CBD sales highlighted during SupplySide West food and beverage workshop

Dietary supplements lead CBD sales in retail channels tracked by SPINs, the market research firm focused on the natural products industry.

At SupplySide West last month in Las Vegas, an analyst presented data that highlighted the extraordinary growth of CBD across all channels tracked by Chicago-based SPINs.

For the 52 weeks that ended Aug. 11, 2019, CBD sales grew 342% to reach $185.1 million across all SPINs channels, including the natural channel, according to Perteet Spencer, principal of the strategic partners group at SPINs. Sales were up from $47.2 million a year ago and just $9.1 million two years ago, Spencer reported.

Spencer, who presented SPINs data during an Oct. 19 SupplySide workshop focused on CBD in food and beverages, reported 78% of CBD sales derived from supplements. But during the same workshop, Roy Bingham, co-founder and CEO of BDS Analytics, predicted CBD growth will largely come from topicals and edibles—including beverages, candy and food.

BDS Analytics projected the U.S. cannabinoid market will reach $45 billion by 2024. Of that hefty figure, $25 billion will be THC cannabinoids in licensed dispensaries, according to the Boulder, Colorado-based market research firm. Bingham said non-THC cannabinoids in general retail—think, for example, CBD in dietary supplements and drinks—will yield sales of $13 billion by 2024.

Some companies like Evo Hemp are already achieving success in the CBD food and beverage market. During the SupplySide West workshop, the two young leaders of Evo Hemp, Jourdan Samel and Ari Sherman, offered a colorful presentation on their brand, including the importance of partnerships with Native American tribes to grow hemp.

Evo Hemp has a relationship with the Lakota Tribe and Alex White Plume, former vice president and president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, to grow and harvest hemp on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Alex cultivates the hemp, then the cannabinoid-rich hemp flower is harvested and made into foods, such as hemp seed hearts, hemp protein powder and Evo Hemp protein bars.

“The focus of this project is to help provide high-paying agricultural jobs to Native American tribes,” Sherman, co-founder and president of Evo Hemp, explained on an Evo Hemp webpage that describes the relationship with Plume and the Lakota Tribe.

In their slide deck at SupplySide West, Evo Hemp’s founders said most consumers feel a stronger connection to companies that are “purpose-driven.”

“Socially responsible” initiatives like the one described above by Evo Hemp’s founders lend credibility to an industry that, despite its extraordinary growth, remains in its infancy. According to research in the first quarter of 2019 by BDS Analytics, just 15% of U.S. adults age 21 or older have consumed hemp-derived products within the past six months.

The percent of Americans consuming hemp-derived products should rise significantly in the coming years—especially once FDA or Congress creates a legal pathway for CBD in supplements and conventional food.

About the Author(s)

Josh Long

Associate editorial director, Natural Products Insider, Informa Markets Health and Nutrition

Josh Long directs the online news, feature and op-ed coverage at Natural Products Insider, which targets the health and wellness industry. He has been reporting on developments in the dietary supplement industry for over a decade, with a focus on regulatory issues, including at the Food and Drug Administration.

He has moderated and/or presented at industry trade shows, including SupplySide East, SupplySide West, Natural Products Expo West, NBJ Summit and the annual Dietary Supplement Regulatory Summit.

Connect with Josh on LinkedIn and ping him with story ideas at [email protected]

Education and previous experience

Josh majored in journalism and graduated from Arizona State University the same year "Jake the Snake" Plummer led the Sun Devils to the Rose Bowl against the Ohio State Buckeyes. He also holds a J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law, was admitted in 2008 to practice law in the state of Colorado and spent a year clerking for a state district court judge.

Over more than a quarter century, he’s written on various topics for newspapers and business-to-business publications – from the Yavapai in Arizona and a controversial plan for a nuclear-waste incinerator in Idaho to nuanced issues, including FDA enforcement of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA).

Since the late 1990s, his articles have been published in a variety of media, including but not limited to, the Cape Cod Times (in Massachusetts), Sedona Red Rock News (in Arizona), Denver Post (in Colorado), Casper Star-Tribune (in Wyoming), now-defunct Jackson Hole Guide (in Wyoming), Colorado Lawyer (published by the Colorado Bar Association) and Nutrition Business Journal.

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