diff --git a/pulsar-client-kafka-compat/pulsar-client-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/PulsarKafkaProducer.java b/pulsar-client-kafka-compat/pulsar-client-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/PulsarKafkaProducer.java
index 1ad1dbbb36540d7ea91c341c03bfd11e00fdc2a7..793a6418ac055754b3c6bcd237d0ee30f823c4b3 100644
--- a/pulsar-client-kafka-compat/pulsar-client-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/PulsarKafkaProducer.java
+++ b/pulsar-client-kafka-compat/pulsar-client-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/PulsarKafkaProducer.java
@@ -128,8 +128,18 @@ public class PulsarKafkaProducer<K, V> implements Producer<K, V> {
             pulsarProducerConf.setCompressionType(CompressionType.LZ4);
         }
 
-        pulsarProducerConf.setBlockIfQueueFull(
-                Boolean.parseBoolean(properties.getProperty(ProducerConfig.BLOCK_ON_BUFFER_FULL_CONFIG, "false")));
+        pulsarProducerConf.setSendTimeout(
+                Integer.parseInt(properties.getProperty(ProducerConfig.MAX_BLOCK_MS_CONFIG, "60000")),
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+
+        boolean blockOnBufferFull = Boolean
+                .parseBoolean(properties.getProperty(ProducerConfig.BLOCK_ON_BUFFER_FULL_CONFIG, "false"));
+
+        // Kafka blocking semantic when blockOnBufferFull=false is different from Pulsar client
+        // Pulsar throws error immediately when the queue is full and blockIfQueueFull=false
+        // Kafka, on the other hand, still blocks for "max.block.ms" time and then gives error.
+        boolean shouldBlockPulsarProducer = pulsarProducerConf.getSendTimeoutMs() > 0 || blockOnBufferFull;
+        pulsarProducerConf.setBlockIfQueueFull(shouldBlockPulsarProducer);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -217,7 +227,7 @@ public class PulsarKafkaProducer<K, V> implements Producer<K, V> {
 
     private org.apache.pulsar.client.api.Producer createNewProducer(String topic) {
         try {
-            return client.createProducer(topic);
+            return client.createProducer(topic, pulsarProducerConf);
         } catch (PulsarClientException e) {
             throw new RuntimeException(e);
         }