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.
Warning
This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.
Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.
Metal Products (Except Machinery and Transport Equipment)
Co-creator
Henry Curran Holden, M.A., Director, Trade Relations and Economics Division, and Economist, Department of Industries and Commerce, Wellington.