diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/ImportTsv.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/ImportTsv.java
index 96ab43b50b68..e778d99f3756 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/ImportTsv.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/ImportTsv.java
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ public class ImportTsv extends Configured implements Tool {
   // If true, bad lines are logged to stderr. Default: false.
   public final static String LOG_BAD_LINES_CONF_KEY = "importtsv.log.bad.lines";
   public final static String SKIP_LINES_CONF_KEY = "importtsv.skip.bad.lines";
+  public final static String SKIP_EMPTY_COLUMNS = "importtsv.skip.empty.columns";
   public final static String COLUMNS_CONF_KEY = "importtsv.columns";
   public final static String SEPARATOR_CONF_KEY = "importtsv.separator";
   public final static String ATTRIBUTE_SEPERATOR_CONF_KEY = "attributes.seperator";
@@ -685,6 +686,7 @@ private static void usage(final String errorMsg) {
       " table. If table does not exist, it is created but deleted in the end.\n" +
       "  -D" + SKIP_LINES_CONF_KEY + "=false - fail if encountering an invalid line\n" +
       "  -D" + LOG_BAD_LINES_CONF_KEY + "=true - logs invalid lines to stderr\n" +
+      "  -D" + SKIP_EMPTY_COLUMNS + "=false - If true then skip empty columns in bulk import\n" +
       "  '-D" + SEPARATOR_CONF_KEY + "=|' - eg separate on pipes instead of tabs\n" +
       "  -D" + TIMESTAMP_CONF_KEY + "=currentTimeAsLong - use the specified timestamp for the import\n" +
       "  -D" + MAPPER_CONF_KEY + "=my.Mapper - A user-defined Mapper to use instead of " +
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TsvImporterMapper.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TsvImporterMapper.java
index e14874b7d94c..94bcb43061de 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TsvImporterMapper.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TsvImporterMapper.java
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ public class TsvImporterMapper
 
   /** Should skip bad lines */
   private boolean skipBadLines;
+  /** Should skip empty columns*/
+  private boolean skipEmptyColumns;
   private Counter badLineCount;
   private boolean logBadLines;
 
@@ -133,6 +135,8 @@ protected void doSetup(Context context) {
     // configuration.
     ts = conf.getLong(ImportTsv.TIMESTAMP_CONF_KEY, 0);
 
+    skipEmptyColumns = context.getConfiguration().getBoolean(
+        ImportTsv.SKIP_EMPTY_COLUMNS, false);
     skipBadLines = context.getConfiguration().getBoolean(
         ImportTsv.SKIP_LINES_CONF_KEY, true);
     badLineCount = context.getCounter("ImportTsv", "Bad Lines");
@@ -178,7 +182,8 @@ public void map(LongWritable offset, Text value,
       for (int i = 0; i < parsed.getColumnCount(); i++) {
         if (i == parser.getRowKeyColumnIndex() || i == parser.getTimestampKeyColumnIndex()
             || i == parser.getAttributesKeyColumnIndex() || i == parser.getCellVisibilityColumnIndex()
-            || i == parser.getCellTTLColumnIndex()) {
+            || i == parser.getCellTTLColumnIndex() || (skipEmptyColumns 
+            && parsed.getColumnLength(i) == 0)) {
           continue;
         }
         populatePut(lineBytes, parsed, put, i);
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestImportTsv.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestImportTsv.java
index 9b7c4aefabac..fd51544d6b9e 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestImportTsv.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestImportTsv.java
@@ -363,6 +363,19 @@ public void testTsvImporterTextMapperWithInvalidData() throws Exception {
     doMROnTableTest(util, tn, FAMILY, data, args, 1, 4);
     util.deleteTable(tn);
   }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testSkipEmptyColumns() throws Exception {
+    Path bulkOutputPath = new Path(util.getDataTestDirOnTestFS(tn.getNameAsString()), "hfiles");
+    args.put(ImportTsv.BULK_OUTPUT_CONF_KEY, bulkOutputPath.toString());
+    args.put(ImportTsv.COLUMNS_CONF_KEY, "HBASE_ROW_KEY,HBASE_TS_KEY,FAM:A,FAM:B");
+    args.put(ImportTsv.SEPARATOR_CONF_KEY, ",");
+    args.put(ImportTsv.SKIP_EMPTY_COLUMNS, "true");
+    // 2 Rows of data as input. Both rows are valid and only 3 columns are no-empty among 4
+    String data = "KEY,1234,VALUE1,VALUE2\nKEY,1235,,VALUE2\n";
+    doMROnTableTest(util, tn, FAMILY, data, args, 1, 3);
+    util.deleteTable(tn);
+  }
 
   private Tool doMROnTableTest(String data, int valueMultiplier) throws Exception {
     return doMROnTableTest(util, tn, FAMILY, data, args, valueMultiplier,-1);