Australia is completing its first export of medical cannabis to Germany, where a legal market is blossoming.

Little Green Pharma (LGP) is the company exporting the country’s first locally-cultivated batch of products to the European country.

By exporting Australian medical cannabis to Germany, the sovereign country can capitalize on a growing industry; Germany’s medical cannabis industry constitutes a significant portion of the European cannabis market, which is forecast to be worth $8 billion by 2023, according to industry analysts.

“Certified exports of medical cannabis into Germany, the EU’s largest market, is a very significant step for Little Green Pharma and its plans to expand its sales base outside of the domestic Australian market,” explained the CEO of Elixxer, Mazen Haddad. “We are working with LGP to enter other European markets.”

Elixxer recently became LGP’s largest shareholder; the company increased ownership to 40.4 percent.

No other medical cannabis company in Australia produces GMP-manufactured cannabis products using locally-grown plants, putting LGP in a prime position for market domination.

Export of Australian medical cannabis to Germany is undergoing testing

Samples will be tested by Cansativa GmbH before being distributed to the market. Cansativa is a distributor and GDP-certified pharmaceutical wholesaler. The company prides itself on being Germany’s biggest medical cannabis importer and distributor.

Testing is an imperative step before the first export of Australian medical cannabis to Germany can be completed. Products that are awaiting testing include the 10:10 LGP Classic and 20:5 LGP classic.

“This partnership underlines Cansativa’s aspiration to provide security of supply in the German market and is an important step for commercializing Australian cannabis in Europe. LGP will help us to tackle the growing supply problems in the German market and secure the amount of deliveries necessary to meet the increasing demands by patients,” said the co-founder and co-managing director of Cansativa, Benedikt Sons.

Sons says that the agreement will ensure Germany’s medical cannabis patients receive a secure supply of pharmaceutical-grade weed.

“Cansativa has aggregated a lot of know-how over the last year regarding process reliability, dealing with authorities, market structure, competition, and the necessary legal expertise. With the Australian import, we underscore our ambition to provide security of supply through global sourcing,” added Sons.

In spite of the fact that Germany’s medical cannabis market is flourishing faster than most, all of the cannabis-containing products sold in this European country are currently imported.

Once the testing phase is over, both parties plan to obtain a supplier qualification that will grant them the opportunity to distribute their products throughout the budding European cannabis market. Additionally, LGP and Cansativa hope to gain the appropriate compliance requirements.

LGP’s license to export Australian medical cannabis to Germany was approved in January

It has been a fairly long wait for LGP, which initially received approval to export Australia medical cannabis to Germany in January. However, all medical cannabis products must undergo regulatory compliance testing before they can be sold in the legal market.

Aside from the fact that testing ensures products meet the satisfactory health and safety standards to confirm their suitability for human use/consumption – as per European regulatory requirements – Cansativa’s testing will also ensure that LGP’s labeling is accurate.

“Being Australia’s first local producer of medicinal cannabis to have its products reach European soil is a major milestone in the Company’s short history. This partnership with Cansativa also highlights that our goal of bringing high-quality, cost-competitive Australian-produced medicinal cannabis to patients around the world has become a reality,” said the Managing Director of LGP, Fleta Solomon. “We are thrilled to be working with a company of Cansativa’s standing, with this partnership just the beginning in LGP achieving its global export goal.”

Frankfurt-based Cansativa hopes that the partnership for Austalian medical cannabis exports to Germany will result in them becoming one of the country’s biggest importers and distributors.