diff --git a/instrumentation/kafka-clients-0.11/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/auto/instrumentation/kafkaclients/TracingIterator.java b/instrumentation/kafka-clients-0.11/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/auto/instrumentation/kafkaclients/TracingIterator.java
index 218eae8599..75409ce946 100644
--- a/instrumentation/kafka-clients-0.11/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/auto/instrumentation/kafkaclients/TracingIterator.java
+++ b/instrumentation/kafka-clients-0.11/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/auto/instrumentation/kafkaclients/TracingIterator.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import static io.opentelemetry.auto.instrumentation.kafkaclients.TextMapExtractA
 import static io.opentelemetry.trace.Span.Kind.CONSUMER;
 import static io.opentelemetry.trace.TracingContextUtils.currentContextWith;
 
+import io.opentelemetry.auto.config.Config;
 import io.opentelemetry.auto.instrumentation.api.SpanWithScope;
 import io.opentelemetry.trace.Span;
 import io.opentelemetry.trace.SpanContext;
@@ -75,12 +76,14 @@ public class TracingIterator implements Iterator<ConsumerRecord> {
         if (consumer) {
           spanBuilder.setSpanKind(CONSUMER);
         }
-        final SpanContext spanContext = extract(next.headers(), GETTER);
-        if (spanContext.isValid()) {
-          if (consumer) {
-            spanBuilder.setParent(spanContext);
-          } else {
-            spanBuilder.addLink(spanContext);
+        if (Config.get().isKafkaClientPropagationEnabled()) {
+          final SpanContext spanContext = extract(next.headers(), GETTER);
+          if (spanContext.isValid()) {
+            if (consumer) {
+              spanBuilder.setParent(spanContext);
+            } else {
+              spanBuilder.addLink(spanContext);
+            }
           }
         }
         final long startTimeMillis = System.currentTimeMillis();
diff --git a/instrumentation/kafka-clients-0.11/src/test/groovy/KafkaClientTest.groovy b/instrumentation/kafka-clients-0.11/src/test/groovy/KafkaClientTest.groovy
index 140f2ea902..e645b4ba1a 100644
--- a/instrumentation/kafka-clients-0.11/src/test/groovy/KafkaClientTest.groovy
+++ b/instrumentation/kafka-clients-0.11/src/test/groovy/KafkaClientTest.groovy
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 import io.opentelemetry.auto.config.Config
 import io.opentelemetry.auto.test.AgentTestRunner
+import io.opentelemetry.auto.test.utils.ConfigUtils
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerConfig
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRecord
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.KafkaConsumer
@@ -333,6 +334,154 @@ class KafkaClientTest extends AgentTestRunner {
 
   }
 
+  def "should not read remote context when consuming messages if propagation is disabled"() {
+    setup:
+    def senderProps = KafkaTestUtils.senderProps(embeddedKafka.getBrokersAsString())
+    def producerFactory = new DefaultKafkaProducerFactory<String, String>(senderProps)
+    def kafkaTemplate = new KafkaTemplate<String, String>(producerFactory)
+
+    when: "send message"
+    String message = "Testing without headers"
+    withConfigOverride(Config.KAFKA_CLIENT_PROPAGATION_ENABLED, "true") {
+      kafkaTemplate.send(SHARED_TOPIC, message)
+    }
+
+    then: "producer span is created"
+    assertTraces(1) {
+      trace(0, 1) {
+        span(0) {
+          operationName SHARED_TOPIC
+          spanKind PRODUCER
+          errored false
+          parent()
+          attributes {
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    when: "read message with context propagation"
+    // create a thread safe queue to store the received message
+    def records = new LinkedBlockingQueue<ConsumerRecord<String, String>>()
+    KafkaMessageListenerContainer<Object, Object> container = startConsumer("consumer-with-propagation", records)
+
+    then: "consumer span is created and is a child of the producer"
+    // check that the message was received
+    records.poll(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS) != null
+
+    assertTraces(1) {
+      trace(0, 2) {
+        span(0) {
+          operationName SHARED_TOPIC
+          spanKind PRODUCER
+          errored false
+          parent()
+          attributes {
+          }
+        }
+        span(1) {
+          operationName SHARED_TOPIC
+          spanKind CONSUMER
+          errored false
+          childOf span(0)
+          attributes {
+            "partition" { it >= 0 }
+            "offset" 0
+            "record.queue_time_ms" { it >= 0 }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    container.stop()
+
+    when: "read message without context propagation"
+    ConfigUtils.updateConfig {
+      System.setProperty("ota."+Config.KAFKA_CLIENT_PROPAGATION_ENABLED, "false")
+    }
+    records.clear()
+    container = startConsumer("consumer-without-propagation", records)
+
+    then: "independent consumer span is created"
+    // check that the message was received
+    records.poll(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS) != null
+
+    assertTraces(2) {
+      trace(0, 2) {
+        span(0) {
+          operationName SHARED_TOPIC
+          spanKind PRODUCER
+          errored false
+          parent()
+          attributes {
+          }
+        }
+        span(1) {
+          operationName SHARED_TOPIC
+          spanKind CONSUMER
+          errored false
+          childOf span(0)
+          attributes {
+            "partition" { it >= 0 }
+            "offset" 0
+            "record.queue_time_ms" { it >= 0 }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+      trace(1, 1) {
+        span(0) {
+          operationName SHARED_TOPIC
+          spanKind CONSUMER
+          errored false
+          parent()
+          attributes {
+            "partition" { it >= 0 }
+            "offset" 0
+            "record.queue_time_ms" { it >= 0 }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+
+    }
+
+    cleanup:
+    producerFactory.stop()
+    container?.stop()
+    ConfigUtils.updateConfig {
+      System.clearProperty("ota."+Config.KAFKA_CLIENT_PROPAGATION_ENABLED)
+    }
+
+  }
+
+  protected KafkaMessageListenerContainer<Object, Object> startConsumer(String groupId, records) {
+// set up the Kafka consumer properties
+    Map<String, Object> consumerProperties = KafkaTestUtils.consumerProps(groupId, "false", embeddedKafka)
+    consumerProperties.put(ConsumerConfig.AUTO_OFFSET_RESET_CONFIG, "earliest")
+
+    // create a Kafka consumer factory
+    def consumerFactory = new DefaultKafkaConsumerFactory<String, String>(consumerProperties)
+
+    // set the topic that needs to be consumed
+    def containerProperties = containerProperties()
+
+    // create a Kafka MessageListenerContainer
+    def container = new KafkaMessageListenerContainer<>(consumerFactory, containerProperties)
+
+    // setup a Kafka message listener
+    container.setupMessageListener(new MessageListener<String, String>() {
+      @Override
+      void onMessage(ConsumerRecord<String, String> record) {
+        records.add(record)
+      }
+    })
+
+    // start the container and underlying message listener
+    container.start()
+
+    // wait until the container has the required number of assigned partitions
+    ContainerTestUtils.waitForAssignment(container, embeddedKafka.getPartitionsPerTopic())
+    container
+  }
+
 
   def containerProperties() {
     try {