diff --git a/src/java/com/cloudera/sqoop/lib/JdbcWritableBridge.java b/src/java/com/cloudera/sqoop/lib/JdbcWritableBridge.java
index efe4d883..8b71e028 100644
--- a/src/java/com/cloudera/sqoop/lib/JdbcWritableBridge.java
+++ b/src/java/com/cloudera/sqoop/lib/JdbcWritableBridge.java
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ public static Date readDate(int colNum, ResultSet r) throws SQLException {
   public static BytesWritable readBytesWritable(int colNum, ResultSet r)
       throws SQLException {
     byte [] bytes = r.getBytes(colNum);
-    return new BytesWritable(bytes);
+    return bytes == null ? null : new BytesWritable(bytes);
   }
 
   public static BigDecimal readBigDecimal(int colNum, ResultSet r)