Israel’s Commissioner for Trade Levies and the Ministry of Economy and Industry have opened a new investigation into allegations of dumping of medical cannabis into the Israeli market from Canada.
As first reported by Cannabis Magazine, Commissioner Danny Tal is launching the investigation less than six months after a District Court rejected Israeli growers’ attempts to impose a tax on imports.
The new complaint argues that circumstances in Israel’s medical cannabis market have changed, with local production decreasing, consumer prices rising, and the local industry facing “collapse”.
In a document from Tal explaining his reasons for launching a new investigation, several major Canadian exporters, including Tilray, Aurora, Organigram, Cronos Group, Canopy Growth, Pure Sunfarms, Avant Brands, Hexo Corp, Decibel, Rubicon Organics, and BZAM, are named. The complaint alleges dumping that occurred from January to December 2025. The previous investigation dealt with allegations of dumping from January 2024 to July 2025. StratCann has reached out to each of these companies for comment.
The Commissioner is giving exporters and importers 30 days to respond to a questionnaire. Submissions (including confidential and public versions) must be filed by July 29, 2026. Non-compliance may result in decisions based on the “best available information.”
The document highlights the rise of what it calls “constructive importers”—companies that import cannabis into Israel without maintaining local production infrastructure—and a shift toward importing large numbers of small, diverse batches (e.g., packages of 20 kg), which it says local growers struggle to compete with. These shipments are said to contain a large variety of cannabis strains, rather than a limited number, to ensure product consistency, as has been seen in the past.
The Commissioner for Trade Levies also indicates a dumping rate of approximately 125% for medical cannabis imported from Canada. This figure represents the gap between the export price to Israel (approximately 4.43 NIS per gram or ~$2.10 CAD) and what this document argues is the domestic market price in Canada (approximately 10 NIS per gram or $4.76 CAD). Conversations are based on a current currency conversion rate of approximately 2.10 to 2.11 NIS per 1 CAD.
The Israeli cannabis growers argue this makes it too difficult to compete and contradicts the objective of maintaining patient treatment continuity. Israel has seen a massive increase in active medical cannabis registrants over the past decade, from 3,097 in 2011 to a peak of 140,483 in January 2024. This has declined somewhat since then, to 129,900 active licenses and prescriptions in March 2025.
Approved monthly dosages have been increasing as well. Flower-based medical cannabis products accounted for over 94% of usage in Israel by 2025. There are currently 426 pharmacies licensed to sell medical cannabis in Israel.
That initial investigation began in November 2024, where the Commissioner said they found evidence of dumping that caused material harm to the local industry and recommended steep tariffs, as high as 165%, be applied to certain Canadian cannabis companies. While the Advisory Committee recommended adopting these findings in March 2025, the Minister of Finance opposed the idea of tariffs or levies.
A June 2025 ruling from Israel’s Legal Advisor to the Prime Minister had supposedly put an end to ongoing debate in the country about imposing high tariffs on Canadian cannabis; however the issue is again being raised following a complaint filed on May 28, 2026 by Evergreen Solomon Pharma Ltd. and Trichome Ltd.
The complainants claim to represent approximately 80% of all growers operating in the local market and almost all growers who do not engage in imports.
Israel Reopens Dumping Investigation into Canadian Medical Cannabis
