Canada's reputation takes a hit in Israel

Government probes claims Canadian producers are dumping cheap medical pot on its domestic market

- ALLAN WOODS

A woman at a medical cannabis farm in Israel. The country's trade commissioner has found "a causal link" showing Canadian pot imports are damaging the local industry.

When it comes to weed, Canada stands tall in the world. 

Pot producers may be struggling in a saturated market here at home, but Canada is among the world’s leading exporters of medical cannabis. It sent more than 54,000 kilograms abroad in 2022, capitalizing on its long head start in what is, for most of the world, a new and relatively untapped industry.

The strong international demand is due to the reputed high quality of the Canadian product. But in one of Canada’s most important marijuana export markets, the country’s reputation for fair dealing is taking a hit.

Israel’s Economy Ministry last month opened a formal investigation into claims that Canada is dumping cheap marijuana in the country at rates that are driving its own domestic cannabis industry to ruin.

A preliminary investigation conducted by the country’s commissioner for trade levies, Danny Tal, found there was “a causal link” showing that imports of the drug from Canada “were causing real damage to the local industry.”

Some Israeli companies complain that they are being forced to destroy locally produced cannabis or shutter local growing operations due to the lack of demand. Other companies are increasingly or exclusively focusing on sales of imported marijuana, which requires less capital investment and less financial risk. “Quite a few companies in the past year and a half have closed up shop,” Itai Rogel, vicepresident of business development and marketing with the Bazelet Group, an Israeli cannabis company, said in an interview.