other expense , net , decreased $ 6.2 million , or 50.0% ( 50.0 % ) , for the year ended december 31 , 2004 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2003 . the decrease was primarily due to a reduction in charges on disposal and transfer costs of fixed assets and facility closure costs of $ 3.3 million , reduced legal charges of $ 1.5 million , and a reduction in expenses of $ 1.4 million consisting of individually insignificant items . interest expense and income taxes interest expense decreased in 2004 by $ 92.2 million , or 75.7% ( 75.7 % ) , from 2003 . this decrease included $ 73.3 million of expenses related to the company 2019s debt refinancing , which was completed in july 2003 . the $ 73.3 million of expenses consisted of $ 55.9 million paid in premiums for the tender of the 95 20448% ( 20448 % ) senior subordinated notes , and a $ 17.4 million non-cash charge for the write-off of deferred financing fees related to the 95 20448% ( 20448 % ) notes and pca 2019s original revolving credit facility . excluding the $ 73.3 million charge , interest expense was $ 18.9 million lower than in 2003 as a result of lower interest rates attributable to the company 2019s july 2003 refinancing and lower debt levels . pca 2019s effective tax rate was 38.0% ( 38.0 % ) for the year ended december 31 , 2004 and 42.3% ( 42.3 % ) for the year ended december 31 , 2003 . the higher tax rate in 2003 is due to stable permanent items over lower book income ( loss ) . for both years 2004 and 2003 tax rates are higher than the federal statutory rate of 35.0% ( 35.0 % ) due to state income taxes . year ended december 31 , 2003 compared to year ended december 31 , 2002 the historical results of operations of pca for the years ended december 31 , 2003 and 2002 are set forth below : for the year ended december 31 , ( in millions ) 2003 2002 change .

2003: net sales: 1735.5
income before interest and taxes: 96.9
interest expense net: -121.8
income ( loss ) before taxes: -24.9
( provision ) benefit for income taxes: 10.5
net income ( loss ): -14.4
2002: net sales: 1735.9
income before interest and taxes: 145.3
interest expense net: -67.7
income ( loss ) before taxes: 77.6
( provision ) benefit for income taxes: -29.4
net income ( loss ): 48.2
change: net sales: -0.4
income before interest and taxes: -48.4
interest expense net: -54.1
income ( loss ) before taxes: -102.5
( provision ) benefit for income taxes: 39.9
net income ( loss ): -62.6

net sales net sales decreased by $ 0.4 million , or 0.0% ( 0.0 % ) , for the year ended december 31 , 2003 from the year ended december 31 , 2002 . net sales increased due to improved sales volumes compared to 2002 , however , this increase was entirely offset by lower sales prices . total corrugated products volume sold increased 2.1% ( 2.1 % ) to 28.1 billion square feet in 2003 compared to 27.5 billion square feet in 2002 . on a comparable shipment-per-workday basis , corrugated products sales volume increased 1.7% ( 1.7 % ) in 2003 from 2002 . shipments-per-workday is calculated by dividing our total corrugated products volume during the year by the number of workdays within the year . the lower percentage increase was due to the fact that 2003 had one more workday ( 252 days ) , those days not falling on a weekend or holiday , than 2002 ( 251 days ) . containerboard sales volume to external domestic and export customers decreased 6.7% ( 6.7 % ) to 445000 tons for the year ended december 31 , 2003 from 477000 tons in the comparable period of 2002 . income before interest and taxes income before interest and taxes decreased by $ 48.4 million , or 33.3% ( 33.3 % ) , for the year ended december 31 , 2003 compared to 2002 . included in income before interest and taxes for the twelve months .

Questions:
what was the change in the pca 2019s effective tax rate throughout the year of 2004?
and throughout the precedent year, what was the decline in containerboard sales volume to external domestic and export customers, in tons?

Answers:
4.3
32000