Chew Chong traded the fungus as an agricultural crop, and from 1872 to 1904, his exports of fungus earned New Zealand more than ￡ 300,000 and accounted for almost all of Taranaki's foreign trade.
張朝把木耳當作農作物開始經營，在一八七二年到一九○四年間，他為紐西蘭外銷了價值超過三十萬英磅的木耳，幾乎壟斷了塔瓦納基的貿易。