The Canadian $ relative to the US$ has fallen from near parity ($1.00) to under $0.80 within 2 years.
This is due to many factors including strengthening US economy, falling oil prices and the bank of Canada dropping interest rates..
The question is: What does a low Canadian dollar mean for the vaporizer industry?
As always when it comes to currency, it all comes down to where you need to buy. In the case of vaporizers, the vast majority of them are at some point priced in US$. There are many good US manufacturers like DaVinci, Magic Flight, Haze and Vapir, all price in US$.
Then we have the European vaporizers like Volcano, Plenty, Crafty and Mighty (Storz and Bickel) and iolite / WISPR2 (Oglesby And Butler). The Europeans had specific Canadian $ pricing but with the fall of our currency they are pushing for US$.
Chinese companies like PUFFiT have always wanted US$ when dealing with Canada and the USA. Using a direct exchange is new and rare when dealing with China. That means that for Canada, all US and Chinese and most major European vapes have seen their costs go up significantly.
That leaves us with Canadian manufacturers, which there are only a few. Arizer being the best one, the makers of the Solo, Air and Extreme Q Vaporizers. There are a few smaller guys like Inhalater and Flashvape but overall there aren't many Canadian vaporizer manufacturers unfortunately.
That means that for Canada, the vast majority of vaporizers will cost more. Resellers can only absorb so much and at an over 20% drop on the currency, something has to give. Either expect an increase in prices or dealers being unable to sustain themselves due to lack of margins.
The good news is that innovation and tech has brought us a lot of really good vaporizers. Desktop like the VapirRise 2.0 or Herbalizer. Portables like the Goboof Alfa, DaVinci Ascent or Arizer Air. There are now vaporizers that fit every need. You may end up paying more long term until our $ recovers but in the mean time, just be happy that we have all these great vaporizers.to choose from.
Happy vaping.
