Cannacurio #121: Manufacturing Licensing Recap Q3 2025

Background

In the last of our quarterly recaps, we turn to manufacturing, the least volatile of the three activities we cover. We categorize a manufacturer as a license-holder who processes cannabis-infused products, such as edibles or concentrates, but does not cultivate or sell to customers. These licenses are issued less frequently than cultivation or retail licenses. And in Q3 Emerald Intel has been able to connect brands directly to licenses – a first in the industry.

Asper usual, Manufacturing licenses were the smallest category in terms of new license issuance. In Q3, there were 170 new licenses issued across 17 states. This is down 22% from 218 in Q2.

Manufacturing Key Findings

• 170 new manufacturing licenses were issued in Q3 2025, down from 218 in Q2.
• New York led the leaderboard with 48 with New Mexico in second at 38.
• 17 states issued licenses for this activity in Q3, up from 16 in Q2.

The following graphs shows that new licenses are added within in a pretty tight range from 39 to 96 with an average of 74.5 new licenses per month.

The Q3 leaderboard has New York and New Mexico out in front, swapping spots fromQ2. In Q2 those two states accounted for 70% of new manufacturing licenses, dropping to 50.6% in Q3.

And here is the overall leaderboard for active manufacturing licenses in the US:

Conclusion

Manufacturing remains the most stable of the three primary license types. Each month about 75 new licenses are issued across the country. The biggest decline in these licenses occurs, predictably, in Oklahoma which has shed 139 manufacturing licenses so far this year – up from 87 in Q2.  Minnesota, the new kid on the block, issued 5 new licenses over the quarter.

Author

Ed Keating is a co-founder of Cannabiz Media and oversees the company’s data research and government relations efforts. He has spent his career working with and advising information companies in the compliance space. Ed has managed product, marketing, and sales while overseeing complex multi jurisdictional product lines in the securities, corporate, UCC, safety, environmental, and human resource markets.  

AtCannabiz Media, Ed enjoys the challenge of working with regulators across the globe as he and his team gather corporate, financial, and license information to track the people, products, and businesses in the cannabis economy.  

Ed graduated from Hamilton College and received his MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

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