The European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) has added a CBD sector survey to its regular hemp cultivation survey, having for years noted the compound’s “increased market relevance.” EIHA said getting answers to both the crop field survey and the CBD-specific questions in a separate survey are critical as the group intensifies its EU lobbying activities on behalf of European hemp stakeholders.
“It’s critical that we submit sound, reliable and updated data about the hemp sector to EU decisionmakers,” said EIHA Managing Director Lorenza Romanese. “That is our first mission.”
Timely data critical
“Their decisions in Brussels are only as good as the information we supply,” Romanese said. “Poor data leads to poor decision making. From creating a hypothesis through driving to a conclusion, we rely on accurate data delivered in a timely fashion, and that’s what we are doing”
The Association is pressing EU member state stakeholders, both EIHA members and non-members, to respond to the survey, which is now online.
Among key issues EIHA is addressing in Brussels is the treatment of certain hemp foodstuffs in the Novel Foods catalog, where currently confusing guidelines are negatively affecting European producers of hemp foods & extracts, particularly the CBD sector.
Longer term, EIHA is also pushing for a 0.3% maximum THC level “on the field” for industrial hemp to bring the industry in line with generally accepted international THC limits.
Results are anonymous
The deadline for submitting survey answers is Nov. 11th, 2019, just ahead of the Association’s General Meeting in Cologne on Nov. 22, 2019. While respondents must submit company details for verification, those details will not be reflected in the results, which are anonymous. A copy of the results is free to EIHA members as a benefit in their membership subscription.
The cultivation survey, conducted periodically, pertains to hemp fields planted and materials produced from the 2018 Europe-wide hemp crop. The survey asks questions such as total area under hemp cultivation, yield per hectare, production quantities of the various raw materials and the broad spectrum of applications for industrial hemp and CBD.
Looking for sound data
The separate CBD survey includes questions about perceptions of the current market, produced and traded CBD products, and the size of the market. In addition to sharing it with members and using the data in its lobbying in Brussels. EIHA will prepare and publish a market report based on the surveys results. For the market report on the European CBD market, EIHA is asking regular members to sponsor.
The Association said it is confident the CBD report will strengthen the EIHA’s understanding of the European market, will be a basis to enlighten national institutions of EU member states, and provide EIHA members with better intelligence on which to make business decisions.
