This is good for local businesses and collectors, providing important cash income that pays for children to go to school and helps to reduce poverty in areas where the options for earning money are limited. Though difficult to measure compared with the more visible export of wild edible fungi, local trade is of considerable value to collectors and increases the supply of food to many areas of weak food security.

Local markets around the world reveal a widespread though smaller individual trade in an extensive range of species. Substantial quantities are eaten through personal collections that may go unrecorded. The nutritional value of wild edible fungi should not be underestimated: they are of comparable value with many vegetables and in notable case have a higher food value.