TORONTO—North American newsprint shipments continued to fall in May, The Canadian Press reports. According to the Pulp and Paper Products Council, shipments declined 1.1% from May last year.

Resolute Forest Products is pegged as the continent's leader with almost 40% of North America's newsprint capacity. The company reopened its mill in Gatineau, Que. in May, following a closure in April 2010, and has also resumed operations in Dolbeau, Que.

Exports were up year-over-year by almost 20%, experiencing higher demand especially in India and South America, but the demand wasn't enough to offset the overall slide. Exports made up one-third of all shipments by North American producers.

The uptick in global market share was attributed to the stalling of 750,000 tonnes of export capacity at a Russian mill in December. As well, North America is expected to benefit this year from a permanent decrease of about one million tonnes of Europe's newsprint capacity, according to an RBC Capital Markets report as cited by the Canadian Press.

Newspapers, however, are accounting for increasingly less of that demand. They purchased almost 6% less newsprint than the prior year.