Softwood is
wood from
gymnosperm trees such as
conifers. Softwood is the source of about 80% of the world's production of
timber, with traditional centres of production being the
Baltic region (including
Scandinavia and
Russia),
North America and China. The term is opposed to
hardwood, which is the wood from
angiosperm trees. Softwoods are not necessarily softer than hardwoods. In both groups there is an enormous variation in actual wood hardness, with the range in density in hardwoods completely including that of softwoods; some hardwoods (e.g.
balsa) are softer than most softwoods, while the hardest hardwoods are much harder than any softwood. The woods of
longleaf pine,
douglas fir, and
yew are much harder in the mechanical sense than several
hardwoods.