diff --git a/schema-serializer/src/main/java/io/confluent/kafka/formatter/SchemaMessageFormatter.java b/schema-serializer/src/main/java/io/confluent/kafka/formatter/SchemaMessageFormatter.java
index 48591cbf828..ae11652e9c8 100644
--- a/schema-serializer/src/main/java/io/confluent/kafka/formatter/SchemaMessageFormatter.java
+++ b/schema-serializer/src/main/java/io/confluent/kafka/formatter/SchemaMessageFormatter.java
@@ -271,8 +271,12 @@ public void writeTo(ConsumerRecord<byte[], byte[]> consumerRecord, PrintStream o
       }
       if (printValueId) {
         output.write(idSeparator);
-        int schemaId = schemaIdFor(consumerRecord.value());
-        output.print(schemaId);
+        if (consumerRecord.value() != null) {
+          int schemaId = schemaIdFor(consumerRecord.value());
+          output.print(schemaId);
+        } else {
+          output.write(NULL_BYTES);
+        }
       }
       output.write(lineSeparator);
     } catch (IOException ioe) {