South Africa has been the headline driver of growth in Africa, with President Cyril Ramaphosa again highlighting cannabis and hemp as being priority growth sectors for the South African economy at his State of the Nation address in February 2022, stating his goal of creating over 130,000 sustainable cannabis and industrial hemp jobs in South Africa.

In March 2017, the Medical Controls Council (MCC) has released its medical cannabis guidelines for the cultivation, production and use of medical cannabis in South Africa. In February 2018, the SAHPRA board replaced the MCC. In addition to the licence application to SAHPRA, applicants wishing to manufacture products for therapeutic purposes containing THC must also apply to the director general of health for a permit under Section 22A(9)(a)(i) of the Medicines Act.

There are currently 5 types of licenses:

  • cultivate/grow and produce cannabis and cannabis resin.
  • extract and test cannabis, cannabis resin and/or cannabinoids.
  • manufacture a cannabis-containing or cannabinoid-containing medicine.
  • import a cannabis-containing medicine.
  • export a cannabis-containing medicine; or distribute a cannabis-containing medicine.

As of January 2024, 96 cannabis cultivation licenses have been issued.

On September 18th, 2018, South Africa’s Constitutional Court unanimously voted to legalize adult Cannabis consumption, as well as the cultivation of Cannabis for private consumption. South Africa’s Parliament was expected to amend the laws that criminalize cannabis following the Constitutional Court’s ruling within 24 months. A bill to codify legalization was introduced in 2020, but its passage was delayed, and South African lawmakers only approved the bill in November 2023.

South Africa is the largest patient market, estimated to have around 1,000 registered patients. In the African Cannabis Report – produced by London-based advisory group Prohibition Partners – the value of the South African medicinal cannabis market is projected at R11 billion (nearly US$600 million).

According to the “South African Cannabis/CBD Industry Landscape Report 2022” by ResearchAndMarkets.com, South Africa’s cannabis/CBD industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 28.4% between 2022 and 2026.

Cannabis Vertically Integrated Business Plan Sample, South Africa

Africa Cannabis Market

Shop

'70% ready to go' business plan templates

Our cannabis financial models and cannabis business plan templates will help you estimate how much it costs to start and operate your own cannabis business, to build all revenue and cost line-items monthly over a flexible seven year period, and then summarize the monthly results into quarters and years for an easy view into the various time periods. We also offer investor pitch deck templates.

Best Selling Templates

Hemp CBD business plan templates are available at hempcbdbusinessplans.com.

South Africa Hemp/CBD Industry