Australian medical cannabis company Cann Group Limited (ASX:CAN) says it has successfully completed a crop harvest at a scale twice that of previous harvests.
While not providing specific figures on output, Cann says the latest harvest at its flagship Mildura facility involved more than 320 square metres of crop – twice the area of that which had been harvested previously.
“The harvest was achieved ahead of schedule, with high quality dry flower yield, some 17% ahead of target,” stated the company. “The crop area harvested equates to an annualised production level of 8 tonnes.”
The company has set a target of reaching annualised production volumes of 12.5 tonnes at its Mildura GMP facility and reaching earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) profitability by the 2025 financial year.
Mildura Plant Production Manager Leslie Higgins noted a special focus on quality – and quantity. But concerning the latter:
“It’s all well and good to chuck twice as many plants in the room, but then you’ve got to make sure you’re getting that return on investment on the plants as well.”
Ms. Higgins says the focus over the next three months or so is to “really get the quality up” and get the weight per plant up as well.
Cann Group CEO Peter Koetsier is very pleased with progress at Mildura.
“This is a tremendous achievement by our production team at Mildura and gives us strong confidence that we are on track to reach our 12.5 tonne annualised volume target,” he said. “The improvement in flower quality underscores the value of our
focus on cultivation processes and the investment we have made in leading-edge technology at Mildura.”
Automation has been key to reducing the amount of manual labour involved at the facility, allowing production to occur more smoothly and rapidly. And there’s more to come, with planned new investment in increased automation.
“We will continue to scale up production over coming months, reinforcing our competitive advantage and keeping us on the path to EBITDA profitability,” said Mr Koetsier.
In its latest investor presentation, Cann Group states the Australian medicinal cannabis market is growing rapidly; reaching an estimated $245 million in 2022 – and only approximately 20% of brands in Australia are locally grown. But amendments this month will make overseas supply more heavily regulated, providing more opportunities for companies such as Cann.
