diff --git a/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplate.java b/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplate.java
index 14caa930..691bd40c 100644
--- a/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplate.java
+++ b/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplate.java
@@ -799,8 +799,8 @@ public class KafkaTemplate<K, V> implements KafkaOperations<K, V>, ApplicationCo
 				this.observationConvention, DefaultKafkaTemplateObservationConvention.INSTANCE,
 				() -> new KafkaRecordSenderContext(producerRecord, this.beanName, this::clusterId),
 				this.observationRegistry);
+		observation.start();
 		try {
-			observation.start();
 			try (Observation.Scope ignored = observation.openScope()) {
 				return doSend(producerRecord, observation);
 			}