diff --git a/utils/funcexp/func_insert.cpp b/utils/funcexp/func_insert.cpp
index a869ef4bf..8e5864433 100644
--- a/utils/funcexp/func_insert.cpp
+++ b/utils/funcexp/func_insert.cpp
@@ -73,8 +73,6 @@ std::string Func_insert::getStrVal(rowgroup::Row& row,
     if (isNull)
         return "";
 
-    start--; // Because SQL syntax is 1 based and we want 0 based.
-
     CHARSET_INFO* cs = fp[0]->data()->resultType().getCharset();
 
     // binLen represents the number of bytes
@@ -91,6 +89,8 @@ std::string Func_insert::getStrVal(rowgroup::Row& row,
     if ((length < 0) || (length > strLen))
         length = strLen;
 
+    start--; // Because SQL syntax is 1 based and we want 0 based.
+
     // Convert start and length from characters to bytes.
     start = cs->charpos(pos, end, start);
     length = cs->charpos(pos+start, end, length);