- Smoking
as a delivery method faces increasing stigma
- Vaporization
set to be a major smoking alternative
- Sunniva
signs contract to supply extraction services to award winning cannabis
brand
Heightened awareness of the dangers posed by smoking is
shaping the fast-developing cannabis marketplace. Smoking, the delivery vehicle
of the tobacco industry, is playing a much lesser role.
Nicotine may not kill – indeed, it is thought to have some
health benefits – but smoking will. So, as markets for adult recreational use
of marijuana open up across the U.S., alternative delivery technologies are
expected to take center stage. Particularly popular is vaporizing, which, apart
from the potential health benefits it offers, avoids the unpleasant (to some)
smell of tobacco smoke and, in the typical vape pen, offers an easy method of
use. As a result, the market for vaporizers is expected to rise rapidly.
Sunniva Inc. (CSE: SNN) (OTCQX: SNNVF) is set to float on that rising vaporizer
trend. The company recently announced that, through a wholly-owned subsidiary,
it had secured an additional extraction contract with Cali Gold, a leading
legacy California cannabis brand. Operating in the world’s two largest cannabis
markets, Canada and California, Sunniva continues to pursue its vision of
becoming the lowest cost, highest quality cannabis producer in the markets it
serves.
There’s no doubt that vaping, once an esoteric activity with
which few were familiar, is going to play an important role as medical and
recreational markets for cannabis develop. According to one analyst, the
vaporizer market in the states of California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington
grew 57.7 percent during 2017, reaching $1.84 billion by year-end (http://ibn.fm/54QIo). Sunniva is
already in position to benefit from those market developments. Its contract
with Cali Gold gives it a ticket to ride the rising vaporization trend for, at
least, the next 12 months, and the agreement may be renewed for a further
12-month term, if Cali Gold so desires.
Signed by wholly-owned subsidiary CP Logistics, LLC’s
Sun-Oil Facility, the deal enables Sunniva to provide Cali Gold with high
quality, ultra-purified manufactured distilled oil products to be utilized
within vaporization cartridges (http://ibn.fm/CjSfI) and other delivery formats. Based in
Berkeley, California, Cali Gold is a popular cannabis brand that has specialized
in high quality edibles. The Cali Gold THCA Chocolate Bar was awarded first
place in Edibles List Magazine. Cali Gold looks to Sunniva’s quality expertise
at scale to introduce 10-15 new products in the next six months.
Sunniva’s Sun-Oil Facility is a state-of-the-art facility
that, at full capacity, will be able to produce over 600,000 filled
vaporization cartridges a month. Ideally suited to supply other white label
marketers, like Cali Gold, the facility is licensed for both volatile and non-volatile
extraction, which enables Sunniva to produce multiple forms of extracted
products.
Sunniva’s Sun-Oil Facility is located about one mile from
the Sunniva California Campus in Cathedral City, where it continues
construction of a state-of-the-art cGMP-compliant greenhouse. cGMP
(current Good Manufacturing Practice) regulations are mandated by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure proper design, monitoring and control
of manufacturing processes and facilities. Phase 1 of the project involves the
development of a 325,000 square foot greenhouse capable of producing 60,000
kilos per year of dry cannabis at capacity. Approximately 30 percent of
initial total production is earmarked for conversion to oils and extracts.
Phase 2 is expected to increase the greenhouse by 164,000 square feet and
increase production by some 40,000 kilos per year.
Further north, work continues at the Canada Campus, a
126-acre site at Okanagan Falls, British
Columbia. The 740,000 square foot facility will have an estimated
output capacity of 100,000 kg annually and is expected to become operational in
2019, which will complement Sunniva’s other Canadian subsidiary, Natural Health
Services (NHS). NHS, which owns and operates seven medical marijuana clinics in
Canada, has a patient base of 95,000, which is served by 21 physicians. The
Canadian market is just as likely to embrace vaporization, a delivery format
that could make cannabis consumption much safer health wise than tobacco ever
was.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.sunniva.com
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