With a boost of licensed growers in Washington, marijuana producers have harvested more crop than what has been demanded by the state’s market. This surplus has caused some producers to lower their price per pound for cannabis.

A marijuana plant ready for harvest can produce an average of a single pound of marijuana in the 3 to 4 months it takes to grow, according to drugscience.org. Once harvested, a pound of marijuana can be sold for roughly $4,000 depending of the strain and THC content.

Reported earlier by The National Marijuana News, Washington state licensed producers have grown more than 16,000 pounds from July 2014 to Nov. 2015, more than what the state’s market demanded during this period.

Retailers and processors believe that this surplus will strongly affect the price of processed products such as edibles, drinkables and concentrates in the near future.

“Glut is hard on producers but it’s good for the market,” said Lena Davidson, sales and marketing manager of botanicaSEATTLE. “[It] forces the market to become more of a commodities market creating space for bulk processors and growers to grow for oil, rather than grow for bud.”

The marijuana industry is not as profitable as many think would think. With 45 percent tax on all sales, and an additional 30 percent of what’s left going to the IRS, marijuana shops cannot write off expenses. This leaves a small profit margin left for business owners.

“To have a price drop race to the bottom is the greatest fear, and that’s basically what’s happening right now, amplified by the glut of product on the market,” Davidson said.

With producers looking to cover the heavy electrical cost of growing indoor crop, some growers may be looking to sell more bud to retailers, instead of selling to processors.

USA Today once reported that roughly 360 kilowatts power a 25 square feet area in a indoor grow production in a month.

With Washington State’s Liquor and Cannabis Control Board Marijuana Producers Tier 1 marijuana license, it allows producers up to 10,000 square feet of space for production. A producer operating at maximum capacity could be facing electrical bills in Kittitas County to upwards of $9,000 a month.

Rob Hendrix, owner of Cannabis Central, believes that consumers will be seeing a greater variety of lower quality packages priced at around $10 per gram, close to that of “street-value”.