diff --git a/spring-cloud-stream-binder-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/stream/binder/kafka/KafkaMessageChannelBinder.java b/spring-cloud-stream-binder-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/stream/binder/kafka/KafkaMessageChannelBinder.java
index 4bee676d4..59698bafc 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-stream-binder-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/stream/binder/kafka/KafkaMessageChannelBinder.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-stream-binder-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/stream/binder/kafka/KafkaMessageChannelBinder.java
@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@ public class KafkaMessageChannelBinder extends
 			setBeanFactory(KafkaMessageChannelBinder.this.getBeanFactory());
 			if (producerProperties.isPartitioned()) {
 				SpelExpressionParser parser = new SpelExpressionParser();
-				setPartitionIdExpression(parser.parseExpression("headers." + BinderHeaders.PARTITION_HEADER));
+				setPartitionIdExpression(parser.parseExpression("headers['" + BinderHeaders.PARTITION_HEADER + "']"));
 			}
 			if (producerProperties.getExtension().isSync()) {
 				setSync(true);