will no longer be significant contributors to business operating results , while expenses should also decline significantly reflecting the reduced level of operations . operating earnings will primarily consist of retail forestland and real estate sales of remaining acreage . specialty businesses and other the specialty businesses and other segment includes the results of the arizona chemical business and certain divested businesses whose results are included in this segment for periods prior to their sale or closure . this segment 2019s 2006 net sales increased 2% ( 2 % ) from 2005 , but declined 17% ( 17 % ) from 2004 . operating profits in 2006 were up substantially from both 2005 and 2004 . the decline in sales compared with 2004 principally reflects declining contributions from businesses sold or closed . specialty businesses and other in millions 2006 2005 2004 .
what was the average cash provided by the continuing operations from 2004 to 2006 in billions
arizona chemical sales were $ 769 million in 2006 , compared with $ 692 million in 2005 and $ 672 million in 2004 . sales volumes declined in 2006 compared with 2005 , but average sales price realiza- tions in 2006 were higher in both the united states and europe . operating earnings in 2006 were sig- nificantly higher than in 2005 and more than 49% ( 49 % ) higher than in 2004 . the increase over 2005 reflects the impact of the higher average sales price realiza- tions and lower manufacturing costs , partially offset by higher prices for crude tall oil ( cto ) . earnings for 2005 also included a $ 13 million charge related to a plant shutdown in norway . other businesses in this operating segment include operations that have been sold , closed or held for sale , primarily the polyrey business in france and , in prior years , the european distribution business . sales for these businesses were approximately $ 166 million in 2006 , compared with $ 223 million in 2005 and $ 448 million in 2004 . in december 2006 , the company entered into a definitive agreement to sell the arizona chemical business , expected to close in the first quarter of liquidity and capital resources overview a major factor in international paper 2019s liquidity and capital resource planning is its generation of operat- ing cash flow , which is highly sensitive to changes in the pricing and demand for our major products . while changes in key cash operating costs , such as energy and raw material costs , do have an effect on operating cash generation , we believe that our strong focus on cost controls has improved our cash flow generation over an operating cycle . as part of the continuing focus on improving our return on investment , we have focused our capital spending on improving our key paper and packaging businesses both globally and in north america . spending levels have been kept below the level of depreciation and amortization charges for each of the last three years , and we anticipate spending will again be slightly below depreciation and amor- tization in 2007 . financing activities in 2006 have been focused on the transformation plan objective of strengthening the balance sheet through repayment of debt , resulting in a net reduction in 2006 of $ 5.2 billion following a $ 1.7 billion net reduction in 2005 . additionally , we made a $ 1.0 billion voluntary cash contribution to our u.s . qualified pension plan in december 2006 to begin satisfying projected long-term funding requirements and to lower future pension expense . our liquidity position continues to be strong , with approximately $ 3.0 billion of committed liquidity to cover future short-term cash flow requirements not met by operating cash flows . management believes it is important for interna- tional paper to maintain an investment-grade credit rating to facilitate access to capital markets on favorable terms . at december 31 , 2006 , the com- pany held long-term credit ratings of bbb ( stable outlook ) and baa3 ( stable outlook ) from standard & poor 2019s and moody 2019s investor services , respectively . cash provided by operations cash provided by continuing operations totaled $ 1.0 billion for 2006 , compared with $ 1.2 billion for 2005 and $ 1.7 billion in 2004 . the 2006 amount is net of a $ 1.0 billion voluntary cash pension plan contribution made in the fourth quarter of 2006 . the major components of cash provided by continuing oper- ations are earnings from continuing operations .