March milling wheat on the Paris-based Euronext exchange was up 0.25 euro or 0.2 percent at 161.25 euros ($192.26) a tonne at 1655 GMT. Volumes were thin with the market awaiting direction from French supply and demand data on Wednesday and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop and inventory forecasts on Friday.
"The market is relatively quiet with USDA on Friday," one dealer said. "It still doesn't look good for French exports."
The euro eased against the dollar but traders said overseas export prospects remained limited for French wheat. Some traders were expecting farming agency FranceAgriMer to lower its forecast for 2017/18 exports outside the European Union on Wednesday for the third month in a row.
However, negative export sentiment in France was offset by the readiness of some market participants to accept large potential end-of-season stocks, encouraged by the wide spread between spot and deferred prices, traders said. In Germany, cash market premiums were generally flat, with feed wheat again quoted well over milling wheat prices.
Standard bread wheat with 12 percent protein content for January delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale unchanged at 4 euros over Paris March. Feed wheat prices in Germany's South Oldenburg market were again well above milling wheat, with January delivery offered for sale at around 174 euros a tonne with buyers seeking 173 euros.
"Feed wheat rather than exports or millers continue to provide the main demand," one German trader said. "Polish buyers are also visible in east Germany covering needs following Poland's poor harvest this year." "German port export loadings are becoming more active but are not enough to excite the market." Ship departures from German ports in past days included two vessels each with about 65,000 tonnes of wheat for Saudi Arabia and one of 50,000 tonnes for South Africa. Another is loading a further 50,000 tonnes for South Africa this week, traders said.