diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/producer/async/DefaultEventHandler.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/producer/async/DefaultEventHandler.scala
index c151032..2c3edd2 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/producer/async/DefaultEventHandler.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/producer/async/DefaultEventHandler.scala
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import kafka.message.{NoCompressionCodec, Message, ByteBufferMessageSet}
 import kafka.producer._
 import kafka.serializer.Encoder
 import kafka.utils.{Utils, Logging, SystemTime}
+import scala.util.Random
 import scala.collection.{Seq, Map}
 import scala.collection.mutable.{ArrayBuffer, HashMap, Set}
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic._
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ class DefaultEventHandler[K,V](config: ProducerConfig,
   extends EventHandler[K,V] with Logging {
   val isSync = ("sync" == config.producerType)
 
-  val partitionCounter = new AtomicInteger(0)
+  val partitionCounter = new AtomicInteger(Random.nextInt)
   val correlationId = new AtomicInteger(0)
   val brokerPartitionInfo = new BrokerPartitionInfo(config, producerPool, topicPartitionInfos)