The popularity of cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD, has spread rapidly, even though it does not enjoy particular support from medical institutions or even governments. In UK, for example, the subject of CBD must be approached with caution, and retailers are not allowed to use exaggerated advertising to attract customers.
Despite this, the benefits of CBD are now well known and attract a large number of people. It just goes to show that good things speak for themselves. CBD is credited with analgesic, relaxing, neuroprotective, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, and many other effects. These characteristics mean that it can be used to reduce, relieve, or even eliminate several symptoms of diseases.
Symptoms include stress, anxiety, panic, and muscle or joint pain. However, what slows down momentum and causes embarrassment for many consumers is the price of CBD-based products and, more generally, the high cost of CBD. Easyweed explains the factors responsible for the high cost of CBD.
The influence of a difficult and costly culture
Before becoming the most important ingredient in the manufacture of cannabidiol-based products, CBD is first extracted from a plant scientifically known as "cannabis sativa L." and commonly referred to as "hemp." Cultivating this plant is particularly difficult and expensive due to the factors that regulate it.
The cost of land
First, it must be acknowledged that all land has a cost; the land on which hemp is grown even more so! Hemp growers must therefore first and foremost pay for the land. In addition, payment for the land is often made periodically and takes time to pay off.
In fact, to obtain high-quality high-quality CBD, the soil must be rich in nutrients. However, nutrient-rich soils are not abundant. In fact, some countries are unable to produce hemp because their soils are not suitable.
In reality, during its growth, the hemp plant draws several elements from the soil and its ecosystem (fauna, flora, environment) to achieve the expected performance.
For this reason, the ideal soil for growing hemp should be located in rural areas to avoid the negative effects of pollutants, which are much more prevalent in urban areas. For all these reasons, Easyweed strongly encourages the purchase of CBD in UK, particularly CBD from controlled agriculture.
Choosing seeds
Choosing cannabis seeds for hemp cultivation is often problematic for growers. They must first identify the variety of hemp that contains the right proportions of cannabinoids in order to ensure a good harvest and comply with the law. The law states that in UK, the hemp plant from which CBD is extracted must not contain more than 0.3% THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), a harmful and psychotropic substance.
Because of all this, hemp seeds are quite expensive for farmers, which in turn affects the price of products. Discover our CBD Shop with excellent value for money for all your inexpensive CBD.
The necessity of organic farming
Since products containing CBD are regulated in UK throughout most of UK, there is constant monitoring to ensure compliance. Even though chemical-based cultivation is not prohibited in UK, it is still the manufacturer who uses organic CBD flowers and CBD shops that sell healthy products are preferred.
For good reason, the high-quality CBD requires organic cultivation, as the hemp plant is a bioaccumulator. This means that the plant's roots have the ability to absorb all substances present in the soil, whether organic or not. Thanks to this property, the hemp plant has the ability to preserve and clean the soil.
However, all the impurities it removes from the soil are stored in its own roots. In fact, if the crop is grown using pesticides, the roots and cannabinoid compounds (including CBD) are contaminated by the pesticides.
Therefore, organic cultivation is mandatory for CBD that is to be sold on the market. However, this type of cultivation with hemp requires more time and resources.
Uncertain agricultural yields
Even when the right hemp seed is chosen, the crop yield may still fall short of farmers' expectations. This is because the hemp plant is unpredictable. So, if the crop is not carefully managed from start to finish, the harvest could result in plants containing more than the 0.3% THC prescribed by law.
However, since regulations are strict, plants that escape growers' control must be destroyed.
The equipment needed for harvesting
Harvesting hemp is also problematic, especially when growers do not have the necessary equipment to do so. To minimize harvesting costs, farmers are free to use the equipment used to harvest cereals: the combine harvester.
However, even in this case, some workers encounter problems during harvesting. In fact, many current hemp growers had to convert from growing food crops. In fact, they had never needed a combine harvester before, as they do now for hemp cultivation.
The extra effort they have to put into harvesting their crops by hand therefore tends to increase the production price, which has the direct consequence of raising the purchase price of CBD.purchase price of CBD.
A demanding drying process
Before hemp reaches manufacturers, it must undergo a rather demanding drying process. Drying hemp requires large sheltered spaces, favorable weather conditions, and many other factors. This also affects the price of CBD.
The influence of complex and costly extraction and refinement
After this entire cultivation and harvesting process, the cannabidiol must still be extracted from the hemp crops obtained. However, cannabidiol (CBD) is just one of around 113 other cannabinoids contained in hemp. This makes CBD extraction a difficult and delicate operation from the outset.
A problematic and complex extraction
In general, there are three or even four methods of extracting CBD within the production branches:
- Solvent extraction: an easy and inexpensive method, but it results in CBD products that contain residues of harmful substances;
- Oil extraction: This inexpensive extraction method is performed using heat. However, there is a risk that the plant's cannabinoids, including cannabidiol, may be altered.
- Ethanol extraction: a practical and widely used technique, but one that makes it difficult to completely eliminate traces of solvents from manufactured CBD products.
- Supercritical CO2 extraction: more reliable and more complex, this method offers a better guarantee of obtaining a healthy product.
Among these, the most widely used methods in the industrial sector are ethanol extraction and supercritical CO2 extraction. But in reality, the most rigorous manufacturers prefer to use supercritical CO2 extraction. The challenge with this method is that it remains the most complex and expensive, as it requires specialized equipment and specific logistics.
Indeed, handling CO2 requires a dedicated laboratory, as it must be subjected to specific temperatures (31 to 40°C) and pressures (74 bar) in order to obtain a clean and environmentally friendly product.
Furthermore, it should be noted that CBD extraction is a costly process, regardless of the extraction method used. The reason for this is that the amount of CBD found in a hemp flower (CBD flower) is relatively low (between 3 and 8%, or even 10% and a little more in exceptional cases).
Consequently, in order to extract the CBD needed to produce a small amount of oil, a large number of hemp plants must be used. The extraction of cannabidiol is a factor that drives up the price of products.
The influence of the "refinement" factor
Refining occurs when, in addition to extraction, specialists must continue processing to obtain broad-spectrum CBD oil or CBD isolate oil.
Broad Spectrum CBD OilBroad Spectrum CBD oil is obtained when the extracted CBD must be completely stripped of its THC content. As forCBD isolate oil is obtained when the CBD extract must be stripped of all other organic compounds in the plant so that only the CBD.
It goes without saying that this refinement (additional extraction) of the extract will tend to increase the price of CBD.
The overwhelming need for skilled labor
From hemp cultivation to cannabidiol processing, CBD products require the ongoing support of a skilled workforce.
During cultivation
Growing hemp to obtain good CBD requires skilled labor and professional expertise. By skilled labor, we mean "growers dedicated to the hemp cultivation industry." However, in reality, it is this specialization that is lacking.
The necessary professional knowledge includes, among other things, the ability of growers to hybridize specific varieties of hemp to ensure that the desired percentages of CBD and THC are obtained from the crop.
During extraction
CBD extraction also requires a particularly skilled workforce. Indeed, the more demanding the CBD extraction process is (Broad Spectrum CBD or CBD isolate), the more skilled the available workforce must be. Not to mention the knowledge required to operate the machines and all the equipment.
For processing
Cannabidiol is not only used in the manufacture ofCBD oil ; it is also used in other CBD products such as CBD cosmetics and CBD e-liquids.
In reality, manufacturing these CBD-derived products requires real expertise in combining CBD with the right ingredients, for example. However, the price to pay for acquiring this kind of expertise is extremely high, especially since the sale of CBD is a young industry in Europe.
The cost of laboratory control tests
The fact that sale of CBD is authorized does not prevent CBD from still being on the radar of the law. Indeed, the law on CBD has established very inflexible regulations regarding the marketing of CBD products.
To this end, all companies operating in the new sector are committed to applying very strict quality control measures. These tests include:
- quality control tests on hemp received from growers (even when they hold license rights);
- laboratory tests to verify the regulatory composition of products (carried out by the manufacturing company);
- Product testing and evaluation by independent third-party laboratories: the results of these tests are commonly referred to as "quality certificates."
In addition, the most committed companies engage in research and testing to produce documentation on their products. The most reliable companies are therefore those that are able to present quality certificates for their products.
The costs associated with all these quality control tests during the manufacturing process contribute significantly to inflating the prices of CBD.
The effect of the law of supply and demand
The law of supply and demand is a microeconomic law that helps to understand the behavior of consumers and producers, product prices, and the state of a market.
According to this law, when demand for a product exceeds supply in an economic market, the price of the product tends to rise. This law accurately describes what we are seeing with CBD.
Since the promotion of the sector is hampered by regulations, supply is not as high as demand: this has the direct consequence of driving up prices to the benefit of producers and manufacturers.
The distribution and advertising of CBD are being fought against.
The high cost of CBD can also be explained by the fact that distribution and marketing are so tightly regulated. Despite its legalization, CBD distribution has so far been on a small scale.
This is because the most influential points of sale (pharmacies, dietary supplement stores, grocery stores) are very cautious about distributing CBD products. Even when they are required to act as intermediaries to get the products to consumers, this is only after a strict and limited pre-selection process.
Furthermore, several social media and web outlets are still very cautious on the subject, thus limiting the spread of information and therefore publicity for CBD.
