‘A Rough Year’ for CBD in 2020

While the natural products industry overall experienced record sales growth in 2020, with the pandemic fueling renewed interest in personal and planet health and wellness, hemp/CBD did not fare as well, reported the Boulder, Colo.-based New Hope Network, during its State of Natural and Organic address at the recent Natural Products Expo Virtual Week.

The U.S. natural and organic products industry, including hemp and CBD, grew 12.7% across all sales channels to reach $259 billion in 2020 and is now on pace to surpass $300 billion in sales by 2023, said New Hope’s Carlotta Mast at the virtual meeting.

As concerns around personal health soared in 2020, scores of consumers turned to natural and organic products for help with everything from immunity boosting to improved gut health through probiotics and prebiotics to mood elevators to sleep management products and more.

Last year was also a strong year for supplements among U.S. consumers, reported Natural Products Expo. But while sales of supplements grew 14% to $56 billion in sales—the highest growth rate for supplements since 1997, when the category was just 14 billion in sales—hemp and CBD supplement sales were down, noted Mast.

“One notable shift in 2020 was in hemp/CBD,” she said. “CBD supplement sales were down 6% last year, which represented a major turn of events from the double-digit sales expansion CBD supplements experienced in 2019.

“Stalled product launches, a decrease in consumer buying behavior, as well as changing consumer perceptions around efficacy of CBD products all contributed to a rough year for CBD in 2020,” said Mast.

Overall U.S. sales of hemp/CBD products performed slightly better than the CBD supplement category, according to New Hope, which reported a 2% decline in sales in that category to $803 million in 2020.