Botanical Holdings said grant funding of up to €4.3mln has been allotted by from the Portugal 2020 Fund to its Portuguese subsidiary, CECO Wellness.
CECO Wellness, which is part of its EuroCan subsidiary, will use the funds towards establishing medicinal cannabis cultivation and processing facilities in Portugal.
The grant funding represents over a third of the overall construction budget for the first phase of the Portuguese project to build a 5,000 sq m greenhouse and 3,600 sq m ancillary/support building, for operations including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) manufacturing, processing, cultivation support services and warehousing.
CECO Wellness has already completed pre-construction activities and expects to complete construction of the facilities by the end of 2021, the company said.
“Demand for medicinal cannabis continues to increase globally. This is due to changes in regulations in the major global markets, which is in turn resulting in increases in clinical research and approvals for therapeutic development of medicinal cannabis. Industry forecasts suggest Europe could surpass the US and Canada to become the largest medicinal cannabis market in the next five years,” said Botanical Holdings chief executive Carl Esprey.
“As a result, it is vital that we operate cultivation, manufacturing and processing operations in both the northern and southern hemispheres to operate a year-round supply as soon as possible to service this growing demand.”