Colorado Wholesale Cannabis Price Rises to $601 a Pound

Colorado's benchmark wholesale price for flower went up on October 1. The Department of Revenue set the average market rate for retail bud at $601 a pound for October through December, up from $574 last quarter. That is a 4.7% increase, and the first time the rate has risen in more than two years.

Store sales are not rising with it. Colorado dispensaries sold $105.6 million in June, down 1.8% from May and 3.9% from $109.8 million in June 2025. A store buying flower on the open market is paying more for it while its sales stay flat or fall.

Eight quarters without an increase

The average market rate (AMR) is the state's median price for unprocessed flower moving from a grower to an unaffiliated store or manufacturer, calculated from Metrc transfer data over the three months before each quarter. The October rate reflects June through August.

Source: Colorado Department of Revenue AMR releases (Q3 2024, Q4 2024, Q1 2025, Q3 2025, Q2 2026).

The rate held near $650 for most of 2025, then fell $74 in two quarters this year. The $27 bounce recovers a little over a third of that drop. At $601, bud is still 7.4% below where it stood a year ago.

Why the price turned: growers are leaving

The state's forecasters point to growers leaving. The September forecast from the Legislative Council Staff says the number of licensed cultivators was down by more than 14% in the second quarter, and it describes "falling sales volume as cultivators exit the market because prices are too low to support their businesses."

The same report put wholesale bud prices 10.6% lower year over year in the third quarter. Our reading is that the October rate is the first sign in the state data that supply has thinned enough to push prices back up. One quarter is not a trend yet. If grow closures keep pace into the January rate, it starts to look like one.

The register isn't helping

On the retail side, the state data through June shows a slow decline. Headset, which tracks a sample of Colorado stores, put September sales at $97.3 million, up 2.0% from a year earlier, with an average item price of $14.30. The two sources disagree on direction, but neither shows sales growing fast enough to cover a higher cost of flower.

The forecasters list three causes for the decline: lower prices, "diminished demand resulting from legalization in other states, and expanded access to intoxicating hemp." They expect the federal hemp restrictions to modestly lift marijuana tax collections, and they project revenue to stabilize in the second half of the 2026-27 fiscal year.

The excise tax goes up with it

Colorado charges a 15% excise tax on wholesale transfers, based on either the AMR or the contract price. When a cultivator transfers to an affiliated store, the AMR applies. At $574, the tax on a pound of bud was $86.10. At $601 it is $90.15. That $4.05 a pound is small, but it hits the integrated chains still running their own grows, and it lands in a quarter when shelf prices are not moving up.

What this means if you sell to Colorado dispensaries

Growers and flower brands have some pricing room for the first time in two years. The AMR is public, so a store buyer has a harder time refusing a modest increase. Stores whose sales fell this year will still push back, and a price ask goes better with a clear reason, like consistent supply or test results.

Stores that sold or shut their grows now buy all their flower at market price. They feel the October increase in full, and the next rate in January could add to it.

Software, payments, and packaging vendors are pitching stores whose cost of goods just went up while sales stayed flat. A pitch that saves a store money will get further than one that adds a new cost.

This is market analysis, not financial or tax advice. Talk to a Colorado tax professional about how the AMR applies to your transfers.

FAQ

What is Colorado's wholesale cannabis price in 2026? The Department of Revenue's average market rate for retail bud is $601 a pound for October through December 2026, up from $574 in the third quarter.

What is the Colorado average market rate (AMR)? It is the median price per pound of unprocessed marijuana sold between unaffiliated growers and stores or manufacturers, calculated quarterly from Metrc data. The state uses it to set the 15% excise tax on transfers to affiliated stores.

Are Colorado cannabis sales still falling? State figures show $105.6 million in June 2026, down 3.9% from June 2025. Headset's tracked sample showed September sales up 2.0% year over year.

Why are Colorado wholesale prices rising? State forecasters point to cultivators leaving the market. Licensed cultivators were down more than 14% in the second quarter of 2026.

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When a store's flower costs go up and its sales don't, the owner decides which vendors stay. See verified, owner-level contacts for Colorado dispensaries, refreshed weekly. Free preview at holdenleads.com.