04.05.2004

Data and Facts about Beverage Can Plant Belgrade

Ground-breaking ceremony:	May 4, 2004
Planned start of production:	May 2005
Volume of capital expenditure:	EUR 50 million (1st project phase)
Customers:	Breweries and soft drinks producers in Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Albania
Number of employees:	Approx.120 employees, working in 5 shifts, 7 days/week
Area of premises:	100,000 m²
Area of the building:	31,000 m² (designed for 2 production lines, can be extended to accommodate further 15,000 m² storage area when second line is set up)
Building layout:	Production area, supply section, storage section, two-storey office building
Facilities:	1 production line for 330 ml and 500 ml aluminium cans
Production capacity:	650 million cans per annum
Daily production:	2.2 million cans (at an output rate of 1,700 cans per minute)
Environmental protection:	State-of-the-art system to treat industrial waste water

Forward-Looking Statements
The information in this news release contains "forward-looking" statements. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those expressed or implied. As time passes, the relevance and accuracy of forward-looking statements contained in this release may change. The company currently does not intend to update any particular forward-looking statement except as it deems necessary at quarterly or annual release of earnings. Please refer to the Form 10-Q filed by Ball Corporation on November 10, 2003, for a summary of key risk factors that could affect actual results or outcomes. Factors that might affect the packaging segments of the company are: fluctuation in consumer and customer demand; competitive packaging material availability, pricing and substitution; the weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing yields; company and industry productive capacity and competitive activity; lack of productivity improvement or production cost reductions; regulatory action or laws, including the German mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws and environmental and workplace safety regulations; availability and cost of raw materials, energy and transportation; the ability or inability to pass on to customers changes in these costs, particularly resin, steel and aluminium; pricing and ability or inability to sell scrap; international business risks (including foreign exchange rates and tax rates) particularly in the United States, Europe and in developing countries such as China and Brazil; and the effect of LIFO accounting on earnings. Factors that may affect the aerospace segment are: funding, authorisation and availability of government contracts and the nature and continuation of those contracts; and technical uncertainty associated with aerospace segment contracts. Factors that could affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: successful and unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures and the integration activities associated therewith including the integration and operation of the business of Schmalbach-Lubeca AG, now known as Ball Packaging Europe; the inability to purchase the company's common stock; insufficient or reduced cash flow; regulatory action or laws including those related to corporate governance and financial reporting, regulations and standards; actual and estimated business consolidation and investment costs and the net realisable value of assets associated with these activities; goodwill impairment; changes in generally accepted accounting principles or their interpretation; litigation; antitrust, intellectual property, consumer and other issues; strikes; boycotts; increases in various employee benefits and labour costs, specifically pension, medical and health care costs incurred in the countries in which Ball has operations; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; interest rates and level of company debt, including floating rate debt; terrorist activities, war or catastrophic events that disrupt or impact production, supply or pricing of the company's goods and services, including raw materials and energy costs, or disrupt or impact the credit and financing of the company's businesses; and U.S. and foreign economic conditions.

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