Jun 26, 2012. /Lesprom Network/. Newsprint shipments continued their drastic fall in May and Canadian mills that have been exporting 40 per cent or more of their output to Asia and Latin America ran into tough competition from European producers because of the euro’s decline and the high Canadian dollar, as The Montreal Gazette reported. Total shipments were down 10.9 per cent year-to-year and 9.4 per cent in the first five months of this year. Domestic demand was more resilient in the latest month, but this was overshadowed by the fall in export shipments (down 28 per cent year-to-year). North American demand overall was down 2.3 per cent from a year earlier – newsprint’s decline of 7.3 per cent was offset by an unusually strong commercial printing segment. Eastern Canada’s newsprint export mills include Resolute Forest Products Inc.’s Mersey mill in Nova Scotia, being shut down, and Kruger Inc.’s Corner Brook mill in Newfoundland and Labrador, where unionized workers were voting on a contact offer late this week. North American newsprint prices have been unchanged for 22 months.