Intermediate goods examples might be, for instance, the ingredients used in producing food products, like the baker's salt that makes the bread he sells to customers.
Businesses usually sell these goods to other companies to be used to make a finished product, or in some cases, to be resold directly to consumers. There are times when intermediate goods are used to make other intermediate goods that are then used to make finished goods.
Because the definition of intermediate goods is so broad, a wide array of various items can be called intermediate goods or secondary intermediate goods— everything from salt to steel to semiconductors.
Electronics and transportation are heavy consumers of intermediate goods; these two industries trade more intermediate goods than all other sectors combined. These two sectors use very complex intermediate goods in their products, which are produced from other intermediate goods. For example, making a bus or a computer requires a semiconductor, an intermediate good that requires an input of other intermediate goods such as metals and ceramics.
Another example of intermediate goods are integrated circuits used by the electronics industry. Others are navigational equipment used in transportation, metal and rubber used by the machinery industry, fertilizer used in agriculture, and girders used in construction.
Businesses can use intermediate goods in various ways to create a range of final goods. Steel, for example, is used in constructing homes and cars, building bridges, and making home appliances, among many other things. Wood is used to make flooring, furniture, and buildings.
Intermediate goods that fit both the intermediate and finished goods inventory classification can be used as ingredients for other things or consumed as a final product. The classic example of this is salt, which the baker can use to make bread, or a consumer can sprinkle on their dinner. Another example is sand, which can be used as an intermediate good to make concrete or glass or sold directly to consumers to fill a sandbox.