diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReader.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReader.java
index 5c47c9fd2..0fbc0ef7e 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReader.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReader.java
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ import java.sql.SQLException;
  */
 public class JdbcPagingItemReader<T> extends AbstractPagingItemReader<T> implements InitializingBean {
 
+	public static final int VALUE_NOT_SET = -1;
+
 	private DataSource dataSource;
 
 	private PagingQueryProvider queryProvider;
@@ -73,6 +75,8 @@ public class JdbcPagingItemReader<T> extends AbstractPagingItemReader<T> impleme
 
 	private Object startAfterValue;
 
+	private int fetchSize = VALUE_NOT_SET;
+
 	public JdbcPagingItemReader() {
 		setName(ClassUtils.getShortName(JdbcPagingItemReader.class));
 	}
@@ -81,6 +85,19 @@ public class JdbcPagingItemReader<T> extends AbstractPagingItemReader<T> impleme
 		this.dataSource = dataSource;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Gives the JDBC driver a hint as to the number of rows that should be
+	 * fetched from the database when more rows are needed for this
+	 * <code>ResultSet</code> object. If the fetch size specified is zero, the
+	 * JDBC driver ignores the value.
+	 * 
+	 * @param fetchSize the number of rows to fetch
+	 * @see ResultSet#setFetchSize(int)
+	 */
+	public void setFetchSize(int fetchSize) {
+		this.fetchSize = fetchSize;
+	}
+
 	public void setQueryProvider(PagingQueryProvider queryProvider) {
 		this.queryProvider = queryProvider;
 	}
@@ -114,6 +131,9 @@ public class JdbcPagingItemReader<T> extends AbstractPagingItemReader<T> impleme
 		super.afterPropertiesSet();
 		Assert.notNull(dataSource);
 		JdbcTemplate jdbcTemplate = new JdbcTemplate(dataSource);
+		if (fetchSize != VALUE_NOT_SET) {
+			jdbcTemplate.setFetchSize(fetchSize);
+		}
 		jdbcTemplate.setMaxRows(pageSize);
 		this.simpleJdbcTemplate = new SimpleJdbcTemplate(jdbcTemplate);
 		Assert.notNull(queryProvider);
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReaderConfigTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReaderConfigTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..20346bb12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReaderConfigTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+package org.springframework.batch.item.database;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
+import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.jdbc.core.JdbcTemplate;
+import org.springframework.jdbc.core.simple.SimpleJdbcTemplate;
+
+import org.springframework.test.util.ReflectionTestUtils;
+
+@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
+@ContextConfiguration
+public class JdbcPagingItemReaderConfigTests {
+
+	@Autowired
+	private JdbcPagingItemReader<Object> jdbcPagingItemReder;
+
+	@Test
+	public void testConfig() {
+		assertNotNull(jdbcPagingItemReder);
+		SimpleJdbcTemplate simpleJdbcTemplate = (SimpleJdbcTemplate) ReflectionTestUtils.getField(jdbcPagingItemReder, "simpleJdbcTemplate");
+		JdbcTemplate jdbcTemplate = (JdbcTemplate) simpleJdbcTemplate.getJdbcOperations();
+		assertEquals(1000, jdbcTemplate.getMaxRows());
+		assertEquals(100, jdbcTemplate.getFetchSize());
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReaderConfigTests-context.xml b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReaderConfigTests-context.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..95853601f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcPagingItemReaderConfigTests-context.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.0.xsd
+	http://www.springframework.org/schema/util http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util-2.5.xsd">
+
+	<bean id="dataSource" class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DriverManagerDataSource">
+		<property name="driverClassName" value="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver" />
+		<property name="url" value="jdbc:hsqldb:mem:testdb" />
+	</bean>
+
+	<bean id="transactionManager" class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DataSourceTransactionManager">
+		<property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
+	</bean>
+	
+	<bean id="jdbcPagingItemReader" class="org.springframework.batch.item.database.JdbcPagingItemReader">
+		<property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>
+		<property name="pageSize" value="1000"/>
+		<property name="fetchSize" value="100"/>
+        <property name="queryProvider">
+        	<bean class="org.springframework.batch.item.database.support.HsqlPagingQueryProvider">
+        		<property name="selectClause" value="select id, bar"/>
+        		<property name="fromClause" value="foo"/>
+        		<property name="sortKey" value="id"/>
+        	</bean>
+        </property>
+	</bean>		
+
+</beans>
\ No newline at end of file