Expatica news

Germany orders 3 million euros of cannabis from Tilray Portugal

tilray cannabisThe Canadian company, which opened its medical cannabis production plant in Cantanhede in the Coimbra district this year, and recently leased 20 hectares of production land in Reguengos de Monsaraz, near Évora, has signed an initial supply contract of 3.3 million dollars (approximately three million euros) with Cannamedical Pharma to increase the distribution of medical cannabis products to German patients.

The export operation is expected to be carried out in the autumn, being “the first of its kind that Tilray will conduct from its Portugal facility to supply patients in Germany,” the company explained.

The freshly inked contract with Cannamedical Pharma GmbH to export the large quantity of cannabis to medical patients in Germany gives Tilray access to a country with a population and gross domestic product that are twice the size of its home country, Canada. “The deal also marks another step for Tilray and its global ambitions” claimed Chief Executive Brendan Kennedy in a recent telephone interview.

“Back in September of 2015, I set out in search of a license to cultivate, process, package and distribute medical cannabis somewhere outside of Canada. We were the first Canadian licensed producer to have a license somewhere else in the world, and that was in Portugal, which issued their first THC cannabis cultivation license. And over the course of the last two years we have built out cultivation, the processing space, the manufacturing space in Portugal.”

Tilray’s Portugal operation began harvesting marijuana in March and celebrated an official opening in April. The facility is roughly 2.5 million square feet, which includes both cultivation and processing operations.

Kennedy said that the framework for Germany would likely be replicated across the European Union and he expects 14 additional countries to put together medical cannabis regulations. He said France is likely to pass a medical cannabis law in the next 6 to 12 months.

“It doesn’t make sense for a patient in Germany and France to have access to medical cannabis and a patient in Spain not to have access,” he said. “And so you’ll start to see modularity across all the member states.”

Globally, Kennedy says that he expects four countries to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use in the near future: Luxembourg, Portugal, Mexico, and New Zealand.

Kennedy said Tilray expects to recognize the revenue from the Germany deal in the third quarter but it could be pushed to the fourth, depending on logistics, and he said the company would update investors when it ships the cannabis.