Industry players want to profit from legalization in 21 of the 27 EU member states and are counting on annual revenues of between 400 and 600 million euros by 2028.
For the first time, Morocco has exported cannabis legally produced on its soil. Sold for between 1,400 and 1,800 euros per kilo, a quintal of resin with a THC content of less than 1% (the molecule responsible for the psychotropic effects) was sent to Switzerland in the second quarter. The amounts are symbolic, but the enthusiasm generated by this export, which has been widely discussed in the local press, illustrates all the expectations that this new segment has among Moroccan private players.
Because, since its promulgation in 2021, the law on the legal use of cannabis “for medical, pharmaceutical, and industrial purposes” has given wings to investors. There are nearly 200 active operators. It makes Morocco a new entrant in a global market whose value, for the therapeutic aspect alone, should exceed 50 billion dollars (46.2 billion euros) in 2028, according to the American investment fund Insight Partners.
The Moroccan Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry and Innovation (FMIIP) is thus betting on “an annual revenue stream of 4.2 to 6.3 billion dirhams” (around 400 to 600 million euros) within four years. On condition that Morocco achieves “a European market share of 10% to 15%”, declared its president in May, who is counting on the boost caused by the wave of legalizations in the European Union (EU), where medical cannabis is authorized in 21 of the 27 member countries.
Regulatory barriers
Among the ranks, the pharmaceutical laboratory Sothema, which achieved a turnover of 230 million euros in 2023, indicates that it has developed around fifteen cannabis-based drugs with a high THC content. To “treat painful pathologies such as cancer, multiple sclerosis or epilepsy”, explains Khalid El-Attaoui. The director of the subsidiary Axess Pharma, which specializes in anti-cancer treatments, plans to market them by 2025.
In his sights, the Moroccan and European markets, mainly Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, and France, which recently authorized medical cannabis on an experimental basis. It remains to lift the regulatory barriers, very restrictive when it comes to psychotropic drugs. But Khalid El-Attaoui is confident and highlights “good agricultural practices, without pesticides or heavy metals, and recognized manufacturing processes, because we already export medicines without cannabis. “
France is not just an export target. French companies participate in interest groups in Morocco, including the Moroccan cooperative Bio Cannat, which has processed some of the cannabis exported to Switzerland. Its director, Aziz Makhlouf, does not wish to disclose the identity of the companies that have been grouped, nor his income, which is “confidential”, but assures that 80% comes from the local market.
Bio Cannat states that it has registered around ten products with the help of Moroccan laboratories, and stresses that around thirty more will be registered soon. Essentially food supplements and cosmetics based on cannabidiol (CBD) without THC, to treat various pathologies, including stress, Parkinson’s disease, and skin conditions. Some of them have been marketed since June 1 in pharmacies in Morocco.
“Green gold”
In Rabat, optimism is the order of the day at the National Agency for the Regulation of Cannabis-Related Activities (ANRAC). “With cannabis, we can achieve what was done with the automobile industry,” which has become Morocco’s leading export sector in fifteen years, the public institution claims. Its director, Mohammed El-Gerrouj, has just returned from London, where he visited the Cannabis Europa trade fair at the end of June, after traveling to the Netherlands, Portugal, and the Czech Republic, three countries that have authorized medical cannabis.
With supporting documents, ANRAC lists the countless sectors that will be able to use Moroccan cannabis, which the newspapers here describe as “green gold” : medicine, but also aeronautics, agri-food, construction, hygiene, paper, plastic, textiles, etc. Niche markets are already being invested in by operators, such as CBD treatments for horses or domestic animals. An activity whose global revenues have increased 700-fold in the last two years, ANRAC emphasizes.
At the heart of the law, the conversion of illicit crops into legal activities seems to be working. The authorized areas are growing: less than 300 hectares (ha) in 2023 compared to some 3,000 ha this year, spread between Al-Hoceima, Chefchaouen, and Taounate, three provinces in the Rif region, in the north, where the cannabis economy is old. The number of approved farmers is also increasing, now approaching 3,300, seven times more than a year ago. Their interest is real, says ANRAC, which estimates “between 10 and 20 dirhams” (between 0.93 euros and 1.87 euros) the price paid to the producer for a kilo of illicit green cannabis, compared to “75 dirhams” for authorized cannabis, the prices of which are subject to agreements.
However, leaving illegality is severely conditional and the growers who have taken the step still represent only a tiny portion of the 400,000 people who officially live off trafficking. In 2019, it concerned more than 55,000 ha of land, according to estimates. The United Nations reports that 23,000 tonnes (t) of grass and 800 t of resin were produced in Morocco in 2021, making the Cherifian kingdom one of the main supplier’s countries of cannabis in the world.
“National heritage”
By comparison, the first harvest of legal cannabis in 2023 yielded only 296 t. All the seeds – more than 2 million seeds – were imported from Europe, but sowing took place in June and July, at a time when Morocco experienced extreme heat waves, reducing the germination and emergence rates of the plants. ANRAC mentions “a loss of 20% linked to high temperatures” , between 47 °C and 49 °C, which coincided with the flowering of the cannabis. While some farmers achieved a yield of 6 t/ha, the average was around 18 quintals.
Morocco’s competitiveness, in a highly competitive market, is also at stake. “Our production costs are higher than in Europe because the sector is being set up and there were a lot of losses last year,” observes Aziz Makhlouf, director of the Bio Cannat cooperative. The specificity of Moroccan crops, which are all outdoors, increases their dependence on climatic conditions, while European production is mainly done in greenhouses.
ANRAC is thus campaigning to stop using imported seeds, which are only grown in irrigated systems, and is advocating for the promotion of “a national heritage”: the ” beldiya”, an early variety of local cannabis, which consumes less water, and which is sown in February. However, since the plant has never been certified, its production within a legal framework was previously impossible. The agency is working on this, in collaboration with the National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA) of Morocco. To make the ” beldiya” available to growers from 2025.
