Compared to other European markets, Greece has a small but growing market for CBD products, which are being sold primarily from CBD specialty shops and online. With domestic cultivation and manufacturing of medical products set in motion, sales are expected to begin in the second half of 2020, giving consumers greater access to CBD products through widespread pharmacies. The country is becoming an attractive target for investment for international companies who see Greece as a potential cultivation center where it can leverage low costs to grow and export, as well as tap into the local market and benefit from the country's lenient regulatory environment, mid-sized population, and tourist potential.

However, due to COVID-19, Greece is highly likely to experience a large economic downturn. The country is comparably more fragile than the the larger European countries, as scars from their recent economic crisis are still healing. The pandemic will negatively impact their biggest income sources like tourism, shipping and agriculture. Consumers' priorities will see a shift as a result and, along with other markets, CBD sales are expected to take a hit and not start fully bouncing back until 2022.

Regulatory Analysis

As of April 2016, the cultivation, processing and use of hemp with a THC content lower than 0.2% is legal in Greece. The plants cultivated by growers must correspond with the EU seed catalogue. As of April 2020, the European Novel Foods’ regulations do not affect the CBD market in Greece, though a decision to adopt Novel Foods policy would drive CBD-infused ingestibles off the legal market. The current regulatory framework allows for pharmaceutical products (including CBD) to be processed by manufacturers in Greece once they are licensed. In order for a company to be considered for a license:

• Members of the company must not have been convicted for a felony, or any penalty for specific crimes (e.g. theft, embezzlement, fraud, extortion, forgery, etc.)

• The company must have authorized a tax and procedural representative in Greece. Members of the company that are non-EU citizens must reside permanently in Greece or have their head offices in Greece.

• The cultivation or processing activity must extend over a single enclosed area, stretching over a minimum surface area of four stremma (approximately one acre).

Competitive Landscape

Hemp production has been in full swing since 2016, therefore various companies already exist in the mainstream CBD space. However, licenses to cultivate and process medical CBD products had not been granted until recently. Thirty-five licenses have been granted as of early 2020, and 60 are pending - though product is not expected to start circulating until the end of the year. In the meantime, a number of wellness-oriented, non-medical companies are already involved in the CBD market in the country, though participants in the country's CBD market tend to be more focused on cultivation and exportation than local sales, given local market discretionary spending limitations.

Europe-based Distributors:

Hempoil

Hempoil opened the first official cannabidiol-based product store in Greece – with nine storefronts, and in 2019, installed a vending machine in Athens and another in Thessaloniki. The company has its own product line consisting of 15 products, as well as partnership deals with nearly a dozen other companies. Some of these include well-known international brands such as Elixinol and Endoca, each of which offer a wide variety of additional product types, but products are predominantly CBD flower and vapes – which can also be found in Hempoil’s vending machines.

Kannabio Hemp Cooperative

Kannabio has been operating in Greece since 2016, and was one of the first companies to cultivate and manufacture hemp. The company currently offers hemp floral water, organic hemp tea, essential oils, a balm and wax product. It began developing a full-spectrum hemp extract in 2018. The company has secured six cultivation licenses, and grows its organic hemp on 16 hectares.

Distribution Analysis

The landscape for distribution of CBD across Greece is tightly limited right now, with sales permitted only through specifically approved stores (including hemp specialty stores, vending machines), however this dynamic will be shifting soon as pharmacies become the dominant channel of distribution. As medical CBD products are developed and approved by government entities over the next few months, they will begin to appear on the shelves of the more than 10,000 pharmacies that span across the Greek Islands.