diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 85e7c29e1..ff7e9ec53 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ FROM monasca/base:$BASE_TAG
 ENV \
     KAFKA_URI=kafka:9092 \
     KAFKA_WAIT_FOR_TOPICS=alarm-state-transitions,metrics \
+    KAFKA_LEGACY_CLIENT_ENABLED=false \
     MONASCA_CONTAINER_API_PORT=8070 \
     DATABASE_BACKEND=influxdb \
     INFLUX_HOST=influxdb \
diff --git a/docker/README.rst b/docker/README.rst
index fd20685f3..8054fc077 100644
--- a/docker/README.rst
+++ b/docker/README.rst
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ Environment variables
 Variable                       Default                                                                 Description
 ============================== ======================================================================= ==========================================
 KAFKA_URI                      kafka:9092                                                              URI to Apache Kafka (distributed streaming platform)
+KAFKA_LEGACY_CLIENT_ENABLED    false                                                                   Enable legacy Kafka client
 MONASCA_CONTAINER_API_PORT     8070                                                                    The port from the metric pipeline endpoint
 DATABASE_BACKEND               influxdb                                                                Select for backend database
 INFLUX_HOST                    influxdb                                                                The host for influxdb
diff --git a/docker/monasca-api.conf.j2 b/docker/monasca-api.conf.j2
index bc3d24f48..65b93e91d 100644
--- a/docker/monasca-api.conf.j2
+++ b/docker/monasca-api.conf.j2
@@ -498,6 +498,13 @@ wait_time = 1
 # effect on stability and/or performance.
 #auto_commit = false
 
+#
+# Enable legacy Kafka client. When set old version of
+# kafka-python library is used. Message format version
+# for the brokers should be set to 0.9.0.0 to avoid
+# performance issues until all consumers are upgraded.
+legacy_kafka_client_enabled = {{ KAFKA_LEGACY_CLIENT_ENABLED | default(false) }}
+
 
 [keystone_authtoken]