Fonterra Kapuni is a lactose (milk sugar) plant that first opened in 1947. Lactose, for use in pharmaceutical products, is extracted from whey, a by-product of cheese manufacture at the Whareroa factory near Hawera.

After the Kapuni gas field was discovered in 1959, the processing infrastructure was built and began operating in 1970. Gas and condensate (liquid hydrocarbons) are separated by the Shell Todd Oil Services plant, and the gas is delivered to the adjacent Natural Gas Corporation, which distributes gas around the country. The condensate is transferred by pipeline to Port Taranaki, where it is shipped to Marsden Point oil refinery near Whangarei. Since operations began at Kapuni, a total of 16 wells have been drilled, including the highly successful Kapuni 14 in 1988.