When Luciano de Vries describes the industrial hemp market, he reaches for a specific comparison: renewable energy, two decades ago. The technology existed. The economic case was real. The regulatory direction was set. But the investment community had not yet caught up, and the assets were priced accordingly. He believes hemp is in the same position today.

De Vries is a Dutch entrepreneur based in Tavira, Portugal, who manages a cross-border portfolio through Bayswater Capital BV. His holdings span transport and industrial production in Poland, real estate in Portugal’s Algarve, and corporate structures across Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States. Across all of them, the entry logic has been the same: find where real value diverges from market-assigned value, and move before the gap closes.

Hemp fits that template in multiple directions at once. As a construction material, hempcrete outperforms conventional alternatives on thermal regulation and moisture management while sequestering carbon over decades. As a textile fiber, it is more durable than cotton and requires a fraction of the water and agrochemical inputs. As a packaging material, hemp-based composites are earning environmental certifications across European markets. A material that solves three separate industrial problems simultaneously has a different demand profile than one that solves only one.

The European hemp market was valued at approximately 3.5 billion dollars in 2025. Projections for the following decade are significantly higher, driven by EU climate commitments that create mandatory demand for lower-carbon materials in construction, packaging, and textiles. De Vries notes that this regulatory architecture is building the market before consumer demand has done so, which is precisely the window he looks for.

His Algarve real estate work through Casa Vista Real Estate, developed alongside business partner Nick Houwen, followed the same logic. The region’s fundamentals supported long-term value well before the market narrative shifted. Hemp’s fundamentals, in his view, are in the same position.

A recent profile by Diário do Minho covers his assessment of the European hemp market in detail, including the regulatory drivers and the timeline he expects for mainstream adoption.

His broader investment methodology, including how Bayswater Capital identifies structural divergences across asset classes and geographies, is examined by Jornal de Leiria.