Global transition towards a bioeconomy sets new demands for wood supply (bioenergy, biomaterials, biochemicals, etc.), and the forestry sector is also expected to help mitigate climate change by increasing carbon fixation. For increased biomass production, the use of improved, genetically superior materials becomes a necessity, and vegetative propagation of elite genotypes provides a potential delivery mechanism for this. Vegetative propagation through somatic embryogenesis alone or in combination with rooted cuttings obtained from somatic young trees can facilitate both tree breeding (greater selection accuracy and gains, breeding archives of donor material for making crosses after selection) and the implementation of deployment strategies for improved reforestation materials. To achieve these goals, progress in the efficiency of pine somatic embryogenesis biotechnology has been made for a few commercial pine species, and a better understanding has been gained of the molecular mechanisms underpinning somatic and zygotic embryo development.