Enua’s managing director and founder Lars Möhring visited South Africa last week seeking to build relationships with local cultivators through its partnership with Gauteng-based Nexus Pharma.

The company has already placed a 10-ton order for cannabis biomass through Nexus, which is in the process of bringing two cannabis processing facilities onto the market – one in Gauteng and the other in the Western Cape.

W Cape Rolls Out the Red Carpet for German Cannabis Delegation

Möhring, along with fellow shareholder Wolfgang Hoever, Managing Partner and CEO Albert Schwarzmeier and key members of his management team arrived in Cape Town on Monday, 10 March 2024, to solidify its future off-take commitment to Nexus and to look for other opportunities in the South African cannabis landscape.

The German visitors were welcomed by high ranking local politicians, including Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration, Pinky Kekana and officials from the Western Cape provincial government.

They visited the Malmsbury site of Nexus’ Cape processing facility which is under construction (where they are pictured above: Ms Kekana with the spade, and Mohring in black second from left, and Slabber in the middle)

Enua is a significant player in the fast-growing German medical cannabis market, estimated by leading international consultancy, Prohibition Partners, to be worth €420 million in 2024. It specializes in linking cannabis cultivators with its network of pharmacies and to date has been importing primarily from Canada.

German Cannabis Consumption Growing Fast, Plenty Room for SA Farmers

Germany is the biggest cannabis market in the EU and offers significant opportunities for South African exporters, says Möhring. He says although Germany is encouraging domestic production to meet its needs, that country is looking to promote domestic cultivation, but there is still significant room for imports from South Africa.

According to Prohibition Partners, German medical cannabis imports increased by 44%, with Q2 2024 medical cannabis imports reaching an all-time quarterly high of 11,706 kilograms compared with Q1 2024 at 8,143 kg.

Möhring says that the recent German elections are unlikely to derail the rapid growth of the medical cannabis market, which is projected to reach €1 billion by 2028. He says the growth has been driven by several factors since cannabis was removed from Germany’s schedule of narcotic drugs a year ago. This has made the handling, distributing, dispensing, and prescription of medical cannabis easier, which in turn has seen a rise in patients accessing prescriptions.

Möhring told Cannabiz Africa: “We are very excited to be offering our services to South African growers as the country is very competitive on price and quality has been improving over the years.” He said access to the EU could be challenging for outsiders, which was why it was important to develop long-term relationships.

Nexus Pharma founder and CEO Johann Slabber says the relationship with Enua is significant not only for the company and the broader community of cultivators licensed by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), but also as a broader sign of international investor confidence in South Africa.

Enua Visit a Sign of Broader International Investment Interest in SA

He says that the interest by Enua may signal the start of renewed interest in South Africa by the international cannabis investment community, which has so far adopted a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude while the country develops a commercial framework for cannabis and related products.

Slabber is confident that while South Africa still has work to do on developing the hemp sector and deciding on an appropriate legal local adult-use market, the medical cannabis export framework is robust and fit for purpose. He says the international standards and protocols are in place for cultivators who need to raise their standards with a focus on quality and compliance.

“We are offering a route to market for farmers who have been struggling with off-take agreements. Because our facilities will be EU GMP certified, we provide a useful stepping stone into Europe, saving farmers the hassle of meeting the high compliance requirements. Nexus is focusing purely on processing, not on cultivation, so we are not competing with the growers we are in business with.”

Slabber says the initial 10-ton order from Enua will be fulfilled over the next 12 months and will begin reducing the medical cannabis surplus that has been building up in South Africa over the past three years. He says although the biomass stockpile is coming down, less than a quarter of the current SAHPRA-licensed cultivators are actually exporting, which means a significant amount of capital is tied up.

For further information contact Nexus Pharma CEO Johann Slabber on johann@nexuspharma.co.za