CBD News Roundup: Japanese Company Makes Orange Peel-Derived CBD Oil

Here’s the latest CBD news:

• A Japanese company has created CBD products derived from orange peels.
• A study from BDS Analytics says the CBD market will reach $20 billion by 2024.
• The US Hemp Roundtable has found that hemp product prices have declined by 19-46% between January and April of 2020.

CBD News Stories

1. Japanese Company Hiro International Launches Line Of Orange Peel-derived CBD Products
2. BDS Analytics Predicts CBD Market Will Reach $20 Billion By 2024
3. US Hemp Roundtable Finds 19-46% Price Decline for Hemp Products Due to COVID-19

Japanese Company Hiro International Launches Line Of Orange Peel-derived CBD Products

A Hanf magazine report reports that Japan-based Hiro International has produced CBD oil from orange peels.

The company unveiled its products at the Cosme Tokyo cosmetics trade show.

According to Hiro spokesperson, Ryousuke Koseki, the THC-free oil could help bring CBD products to places with strict rules on THC.

“With Orange CBD, you get the same ingredient, same effects and there’s no danger in terms of legality. It also provides a different story of CBD for the consumer that sounds better than being derived from the marijuana plant,” said Koseki in a statement.

CBD is legal in Japan, but CBD products are not as popular as in other countries because Japan has strict restrictions on THC.

According to a report by Hemp Industry Daily, the CBD market in Japan nearly doubled in sales from 2017 to 2018.

Koseki believes the market has plenty of room to grow because, currently, many CBD products contain trace amounts of THC.

Hiro International was founded in 1984 as a fruit and fruit juice importer. It found the CBD in orange peels that were imported from the US and used it to develop prototypes, including body lotion, lip balm, make-up remover, and a hair care product. The company said the CBD oil found in the orange peels is structurally the same as hemp-derived CBD.

It has not yet determined if it will sell the products overseas. 

BDS Analytics Predicts CBD Market Will Reach $20 Billion By 2024

Market research firm BDS Analytics predicts the CBD market will reach $20 billion by 2024, while the food and beverages vertical will hit $5.9 billion.

In 2019, CBD sales in this category accounted for $906 million.

“We’re witnessing CBD maturing from a cannabis sub-category into a full-blown industry of its own,” said Roy Bingham, Co-Founder and CEO of BDS Analytics, in a statement. “Our growth forecast for the CBD market, across all distribution channels, predicts a compound annual growth rate of 49 percent by 2024. This is a great opportunity for all involved, but it means the road ahead will include decisions that need to be informed by the best possible data.”

BDS predicts CBD products surging in mass retailers like Target and Walmart in addition to dispensaries, grocery stores, and eCommerce.

Thus far, mainstream retailers have seldom carried ingestible, hemp-based CBD products because of FDA regulations.

This is expected to change, and BDS predicts CBD will be authorized to be sold in food, beverages, and supplements. 

In his first speech as FDA Commissioner in February, Dr. Stephen Hahn said, “We’re not going to be able to say, ‘You can’t use these products.’ Even if you did, it’s a fool’s game to even try to approach that.”

BDS Analytics estimates the overall cannabinoid market, which includes THC-based products, will reach $46 billion by 2024.

US Hemp Roundtable Finds 19-46% Price Decline for Hemp Products Due to COVID-19

Partnering with Hemp Benchmarks and PanXchange, the US Hemp Roundtable has found a 19-46% price decline, depending on the hemp product, throughout January to April of this year.

The prestigious hemp organization gathered the data in an attempt to help hemp farmers secure eligibility in the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.

Last week, the USDA announced that hemp would not be an eligible crop for its coronavirus food assistance program because it had not experienced a five percent or greater drop in price between January and April.

Initially, the USDA said it would not reconsider making hemp eligible even if data were presented that proved the required decline in price.

According to the US Hemp Roundtable, it contacted the USDA, and the agency said it would reconsider hemp if data could be provided.

“The challenge we have is we’re not a mature industry right now. We don’t have some mature, sophisticated pricing data like for corn or soybeans,” said Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the US Hemp Roundtable, in a phone interview with Marijuana Moment.

The US Hemp Roundtable sent official comments with their price findings to the USDA, urging the agency to include hemp in the Coronavirus Food Assitance Program regulation. The comment period remains open until June 21.