Australia News

The past week has been a good one for investors in Australia's emerging hemp farming industry.

Cann Group (ASX: CAN) has been granted import/export permits for cannabis products, while Stock Hydroponics Company (ASX: THC) has also received licenses to produce medical marijuana.

The Cann Group import/export right will be used by the organization to send the Australian-grown to Canada for analysis and testing. As for imports, Cann Group director plans to sell a number of marijuana products, will be sold along with their own.

“Granting the right to import/export is an important milestone in the achievement of the enterprise, the goal of creating a genetic database of local strains of cannabis at the international level, for cultivation in accordance with its drug authorization, while facilitating the development of a plant breeding program within the research,” said the director of the Cann Group. Peter Kroc.

While feedback was requested from the National Drug Control Administration in July on the streamlined export process for Australian cannabis, there has been no formal change. The Cann Group license was issued as part of a general export scheme. It will need to be renewed in 12 months and a permit is still required before the facility can export marijuana material.

But despite the rest of the red tape, investors reacted positively to the news, with stock prices up 15% since the announcement. Cann Group opened in May in the ASX, trading at $0.65 a share. It closed at AU$2.11 on Wednesday.

Expanded DEA licensing grants have brought joy to smaller stocks as well. Hydroponics rallied from its lowest price of $0.20 per share to a high of AU$0.33 after announcing that a Canndeo subsidiary has received permits to produce cannabis seeds. It closed at $0.3 on Wednesday.

Hydroponics built its business by manufacturing and selling hydroponic equipment to cannabis seed growers. But the cannabis boom in Australia has been slower, more concentrated and more technologically advanced than expected.

Canndeo received research approvals in July, but a drug license announced last week will allow it to begin making commercial products. CEO David Radford called it "an important step in the company's transition to a commercial offering and the monetization of the opportunity that exists in the medicinal cannabis market."

Meanwhile, Australia's steering wheels are moving slowly. The Drug Enforcement Administration has granted 21 licenses to grow marijuana, but the Australian federal government has blocked Senate bills that would open access to honey cannabis to patients, leading to disappointment among the country's cannabis medical community.