Molson Coors to enter Canada’s cannabis-infused beverages market

Molson Coors is planning to gain a share of the Canadian cannabis-infused beverages market after edibles are legalised next year.

Products such as dried flower cannabis have been available for recreational purposes in the country since 17 October.

After releasing the Q3 earnings report, Molson Coors’ CEO Mark R Hunter was quoted by The Canadian Press as saying: “We will be in a ready-to-go position and one of the first on the playing field as the market opens up.”

The Canadian cannabis market is expected to be worth between C$7bn ($5.3bn) and C$10bn ($7.6bn), with around 20%-30% being cannabis-infused non-alcoholic beverages.

In early October, Molson Coors’ Canadian business unit and Hexo formed a new joint venture (JV) company called Truss to explore opportunities in developing non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beverages for the Canadian market post-legalisation.

The company is currently exploring what kind of drinks it would offer to the market and plans to share the details next year.

Hunter further added: “We decided as a business that we did not want to be a spectator as this new market opened up and we clearly wanted to be a participant.”

Molson Coors also plans to focus on expansion in international markets.

The brewing firm posted earnings of $338.3m for Q3 ended 30 September, compared with $287m profits in the same period in 2017.