The most important items, in terms of value of output, are farm machinery (£4.6 million), 40,000 washing machines (£2.1 million), 35,000 refrigerators (£3.4 million), and 54,000 lawnmowers (£1.5 million). Some earth-moving equipment is made. The manufacture of farm machinery is concentrated in Auckland and Christchurch, with one important unit in Dunedin. The remainder of the industry is mainly in Auckland (nearly 50 per cent of the total), Wellington, Lower Hutt, and Christchurch.

The high rate of building construction during the last decade, and the rising standard of living, have contributed to the substantial growth of this industrial group and of the allied engineering and electrical industries. Those associated with metal products manufacture basic metal forms into finished articles – tinware, hardware, holloware, nails, bolts, and nuts. Some 85,000 milk and other buckets were made in 1962–63, as well as 51,000 water heaters; 42,000 stainless-steel and other sinks; 6 million yards of woven field fencing; 9,000 tons of steel-wire nails; 6,900 tons of steel pipes and fittings; 48,000 tons of fabricated structural steel; 3,900 tons of bolts, nuts, rivets, washers, and screws; 20,500 wheelbarrows; and many other items, including garden and tradesmen's tools; components for other engineering and electrical industries; dairying, hospital, and dental equipment; and structural builders' and plumbers' hardware.

Smelting and refining is confined to the reclamation of scrap metals and, up to the present, iron and brass founding has been the main activity in this group. A plant to smelt and reroll steel scrap into merchant-bar products (such as reinforcing rod and engineering rounds and flats) has been established in the North Island. Other activities include steel founding, lead rolling, extrusion of lead, brass, and aluminium forms, and copper-wire drawing and its insulation. In 1962–63 the output of this group was valued at £5.6 million.

Nearly all the raw materials used by this group are of New Zealand origin. There is usually a natural protection afforded the units because of the bulky nature of the product and the possibility of breakage during transport. Bricks, tiles, and earthenware pipes, valued at £2.5 million, various concrete products (roofing tiles, posts, wash tubs, troughs, etc.), valued at £7.8 million, and fibrous-plaster building materials are produced in widely dispersed units. There are 82 lime works producing 870,000 tons, chiefly of agricultural lime, to a value of £13 million. Other sections of the industry manufacture insulators, crockery, sanitaryware, and other earthenware; two major glass manufacturers produce jars, bottles, and pressed and blown glassware; and a number of small units produce mirrors and leadlights, and carry out glass-bevelling work.

Cement: Six works produced 653,000 tons of cement, valued at £5.7 million, in 1962–63. These units meet local needs for Portland cement.

Crude petroleum from three nearby wells is refined at New Plymouth, producing small quantities of oil and supplying some natural gas daily to the town. If the recently discovered supplies of natural gas in South Taranaki prove to warrant development within the next few years, it is expected that this source will meet a large portion of the North Island's needs for gas heating. It is also expected that useful quantities of condensate (mainly light oil) will become available for processing at the Marsden Point Refinery, Whangarei. A number of factories refine used lubricating oils, blend lubricating oils, and manufacture greases, foundry coke, carbonettes, creosote, tar, and various bituminous products.

The 12 superphosphate works, located mainly near ports, produce about a million tons of fertiliser a year. The industry uses rock phosphate from Ocean and Nauru Islands and sulphuric acid manufactured from imported sulphur. Some superphosphate is compounded with trace elements; some, again, is made into pellets for aerial topdressing. Twenty-five manufacturers of paint and varnish supply New Zealand's main needs. Most of the output of £6.8 million comes from firms in Auckland and Wellington. Factories in Petone account for much of the soap production of £3.4 million. The soap industry also produces candles and recovers crude glycerine. Pharmaceutical preparations, toilet goods, and cosmetics, valued at £4.6 million, are made in the main centres, where many other items are manufactured for farm, household, and industrial use.

The first factory was set up at Auckland in 1933. Three plants manufacture tyres and tubes valued at £6.0 million at Auckland, Upper Hutt, and Christ-church and employ approximately 900 people. Moreover, 1,600 people, mainly in Christchurch, are employed producing general rubber goods worth £5.5 million.

Until 1900 tanning was done in many places, but the trade has suffered from the declining use of harness and saddlery, the loss of its export markets for finished leather (which gave way to the export of hides and skins), and the increased use of synthetic materials. About a million hides, skins, and pelts are used annually, producing over a hundred different types and grades of leathers, including coloured leathers, for the manufacture of footwear and all types of bags and sporting and industrial leather goods.

Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin account for nearly three-quarters of the 12,100 workers. Relative to population, the number employed in Wellington is very high, owing to the presence there of Parliament and Government Departments (including the Government Printing Office), and of the head offices of many private firms.

Pulp and Paper: The New Zealand paper industry began in Otago in 1877, when two mills were established, one of which still operates in Mataura. Today the industry's seven units employ about 2,800 people. The exotic forests of the Auckland Provincial District provide the raw materials, and the plants are located at Penrose (Auckland) and in the Rotorua district at Kinleith, Kawerau (two units), Whakatane, and Christchurch. Present production covers most of New Zealand's pulp and paper needs, and in 1963 the first commercial runs of “printing and writing” papers were made. Expansion since the Second World War has been spectacular – production of mechanical pulp has increased from 16,851 tons in 1945–46 to 188,290 tons in 1963–64, chemical pulp, from 7,413 tons in 1953–54 (the first year of production) to 181,197 tons; newsprint, from 9,000 tons in 1955–56 (first year of production) to 168,000 tons; other paper, from 6,366 tons in 1945–46 to 82,922 tons; paper-board, from 11,605 tons to 45,098 tons; and fibre-board, from 8,672 tons to 29,229 tons. The value of the production of pulp, paper, and paperboard for 1962–63 was £23.0 million, with an additional value in manufacture of £15.8 million. For the year ended 30 June 1963 exports were 72,061 tons of newsprint (£4.0 million), mainly to Australia, and 69,067 tons of wood pulp (£2.7 million), mainly to Australia, South Africa, South-East Asia, and the United Kingdom. The principal “other papers” are kraft wrapping paper and toilet and wrapping tissues. From the kraft paper are made multiwall and other bags, container board, laminated-plastic-surfaced materials, and building, gumming, waxed, and wrapping papers.

Paper and Paperboard Products: Nearly half of the cardboard-box, carton, and paper-bag factories are in Auckland and most of the remainder are in the other main centres. Other factories (one-third of which are in Auckland and one-quarter in Wellington) produce stationery and a wide variety of goods, particularly from light tissues. About 40 per cent of the staff of 3,550 in the conversion units are women. Output was £18.8 million.