Flora Growth Completes Successful First Cannabis Extraction Through New Facility, Initiates EU-GMP Certification Process
January 11 2022 - 7:05AM
Business Wire
- Flora’s cultivation and extraction division, Cosechemos,
completed construction of a 10,500 ft2 state-of-the-art
post-harvest and extraction facility with annual capacity of 15,000
L of distillate
- The first batch of crude oil has been extracted, where the
product was submitted to the Colombian Government to obtain Flora’s
2022 quota for High-THC derivatives, building on Flora’s existing
quota of 7,900 kg of dried High-THC flower
- Cosechemos has initiated the pre-audit process for EU-GMP
certification, which will enable export of medical-grade cannabis
derivatives to international markets when paired with its existing
GACP certification
Flora Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: FLGC) (“Flora” or the “Company”), a
leading all-outdoor cultivator and manufacturer of global cannabis
products and brands, announced today that its wholly owned
subsidiary, Cosechemos, has produced the first batch of crude oil
through its newly constructed extraction facility. Further,
Cosechemos has initiated the process to become EU-GMP certified.
The completed facility will serve as the Company’s primary
processing hub, facilitating the drying and processing of Flora’s
all-outdoor cultivated flower into finished, packaged dry flower
and extracted material for domestic production and export to
wholesale cannabis markets.
In December of 2021, Flora’s laboratory quality assurance and
regulatory team completed the installation and testing of all
extraction equipment. The team successfully extracted the first
batch of High-THC crude oil, where the product was submitted to the
Colombian Government to obtain Flora’s 2022 quota for THC
derivatives. At this time, the team is continuing commercial CBD
extraction.
With this major milestone complete, the company has initiated
pre-audit work for the completion of the EU-GMP certification. Upon
receipt of EU-GMP certification, and when paired with Flora
Growth’s recent Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP)
certification, Flora will be positioned to target international
medical cannabis markets. Flora intends on leveraging its cost
advantage - with the Company’s low-cost, outdoor-cultivated
cannabis grown as inexpensively as 6 cents per gram - to penetrate
international medical cannabis markets with its low-cost dried
flower and derivatives.
“Global cannabis markets are growing at an incredible rate, and
Flora is ready to meet that demand for cannabis-derivatives with
the completion of our new EU-GMP compliant extraction facility in
Colombia,” said Luis Merchan, President and CEO of Flora Growth.
“This is another major step for Flora Growth, as we are now in a
position to seek EU-GMP certification, with the ultimate goal of
disrupting the global cannabis derivatives market with our low-cost
product. Further, the completion of the facility immediately allows
us to supply extracts and derivatives to our CPG portfolio,
including Flora Beauty and Kasa brands, unlocking additional cost
efficiencies.”
Flora Growth’s post-harvest and extraction facility stands at
10,500 square feet at Flora’s cultivation site in Bucaramanga,
Colombia, bringing total extraction capacity to over 15,000 litres
of distillate annually. The new facility is fully automated and
features cryo-ethanol extraction that yields economical and
high-quality cannabinoid derivatives at high-throughput. The
facility expedites Flora’s ability to produce dried and packaged
flower, derivatives, distillate, and finished goods entirely
in-house.
“Being fully integrated, with internal processing, paired with
our expanding distribution channels, was a strategic decision and
one that we believe will have long-term benefit as the cannabis
derivatives market further stabilizes and expands,” said Jason
Warnock, CRO of Flora Growth. “This new facility will also help to
increase the range of our product offerings, so that our team can
not only produce high-quality cannabis flower, but also produce
derivatives and active pharmaceutical ingredients (or APIs) for
international medical markets.”
About Flora Growth Corp. Flora is building a connected,
design-led collective, of plant-based wellness and lifestyle
brands, that delivers the most compelling customer experiences in
the world, one community at a time. As the operator of one of the
largest outdoor cannabis cultivation facilities, Flora leverages
natural, cost-effective cultivation practices to supply cannabis
derivatives to its diverse business divisions of cosmetics, hemp
textiles, and food and beverage. Visit www.floragrowth.ca or follow
@floragrowthcorp on social for more information.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking
Statements This document contains forward-looking statements.
In addition, from time to time, we or our representatives may make
forward-looking statements orally or in writing. We base these
forward-looking statements on our expectations and projections
about future events, which we derive from the information currently
available to us. Such forward-looking statements relate to future
events or our future performance, including: the size of markets
for cannabis and cannabis products; Flora’s ability to cultivate,
process, and extract cannabis; and our business prospects and
opportunities. You can identify forward-looking statements by those
that are not historical in nature, particularly those that use
terminology such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “anticipates,”
“contemplates,” “estimates,” “believes,” “plans,” “projected,”
“predicts,” “potential,” or “hopes” or the negative of these or
similar terms. In evaluating these forward-looking statements, you
should consider various factors, including: our ability to change
the direction of the Company; our ability to keep pace with new
technology and changing market needs; and the competitive
environment of our business. These and other factors may cause our
actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking
statement. Forward-looking statements are only predictions. The
forward-looking events discussed in this document and other
statements made from time to time by us or our representatives may
not occur, and actual events and results may differ materially and
are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us. We
undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of uncertainties and
assumptions, or the forward-looking events discussed in this
document and other statements made from time to time by us or our
representatives not occurring, except as may be required by
applicable law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220111005434/en/
Investor Relations: Evan Veryard
evan.veryard@floragrowth.ca
Public Relations: Cassandra Dowell +1 (858) 264-6600
flora@cmwmedia.com
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