Retail sales were negatively affected by COVID lockdowns, while new stores and lower prices provided a boost.

New data from Statistics Canada revealed that Canadian cannabis sales in March improved 65% year-over-year reaching CA$298.1 million ($246.7 million), reports New Cannabis Ventures.

According to the outlet, this was the “slowest year-over-year growth” since recreational sales in the country began in late 2018. First-quarter sales improved only 1.8% sequentially.

Photo by Ivan-balvan/Getty Images

The data analytics provider, Hifyre IQ, had projected April sales would improve around 4% hitting CA$309 million. This implies a 73% growth from the same period of a prior year.

Retail sales were negatively affected by COVID lockdowns, while new stores and lower prices provided a boost.

Breaking down sales data by province, Ontario improved the most gaining 121% year-over-year. Sales in Alberta improved 10% from the same period of 2020 and in British Columbia 12%.

Cantor Fitzgerald’s Pablo Zuanic provided an update on sales growth and market share trends by company and province. Based on this, most of the biggest Canadian cannabis players such as Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB), Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC), Organigram (NASDAQ:OGI) and Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY), had seen their best sales in Ontario.