NEW YORK -- Ale an Aluminium Ltd. once again opted to hold its postings for primary aluminum ingot and extrusion billet unchanged through September after ingot prices held steady on the hedge and dealer markets during August.

The Montreal-based integrated international aluminum producer left its postings at 68 cents a pound for ingot and 78 cents a pound for alloy 6063 extrusion billet- levels selected for both July and August. Richmond, Va.,based Reynolds Metals Co., which has been putting more emphasis on the ingot sector after selling off much of its mill products and fabricating base over the past year or so, reportedly held its September tags unchanged at 69 cents a pound for unalloyed ingot and 79 cents for 6063 extrusion billet.

The London Metal Exchange cash aluminum price, which forms the basis for most of the world's aluminum ingot pricing and much of North American producer pricing for aluminum can stock, common alloy sheet, soft alloy extrusions and some other mill products, averaged 59.5 cents a pound in August, not much changed from July's 59.4 cents or June's 59.3 cents.

Premiums applied to producer metal sold to dealers, Midwest delivery basis, have centered on 4.5 cents a pound over late spring and thus far this summer. On this basis and with the LME cash price finishing Friday at 60.63 cents, he merchant price started the new week at 65 cents to 65.25 cents a pound, 3 to 4 cents under Alcan's September posting.

Held in check by rising imports, U.S. aluminum industry shipments of primary and secondary ingot in the first half of 1998 were virtually unchanged from the same 1997 period at 1,321,827 tonnes, according to the latest Aluminum Association and U.S. Department of Commerce tallies.

Imports jumped 234,330 tonnes, or 20.9 percent, to 1,354,850 tonnes, topping the domestic industry tally by more than 33,000 tonnes. U.S. aluminum industry purchases from Russia are running at a record clip this year. Imports from Australia also are higher, while metal brought in from Canada was down in the first half of this year.