diff --git a/.buildkite/publish.sh b/.buildkite/publish.sh
index ac357a1222..41d2311b16 100755
--- a/.buildkite/publish.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/publish.sh
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ GPG_EXISTS=$(gpg --list-keys "$GPG_KEY_ID" >&2 && echo "yes" || echo "no")
 
 if [[ "$GPG_EXISTS" == "no" ]]; then
 	echo "$GPG_KEY" | base64 --decode | gpg --batch --import
+    # Local testing showed that without this the SBT plugin got "Bad passphrase".
+    gpg --passphrase $GPG_PASSPHRASE --batch --yes -a -b LICENSE
 fi
-# Local testing showed that without this the SBT plugin got "Bad passphrase".
-gpg --passphrase $GPG_PASSPHRASE --batch --yes -a -b LICENSE
 
 # https://github.com/olafurpg/sbt-ci-release#secrets
 export PGP_SECRET="$GPG_KEY"