diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/SeparatorBasedImporter.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/SeparatorBasedImporter.java
index ec662486e..ad7f7afc1 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/SeparatorBasedImporter.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/SeparatorBasedImporter.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.apache.commons.lang.StringEscapeUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.json.JSONObject;
 
 import au.com.bytecode.opencsv.CSVParser;
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ public class SeparatorBasedImporter extends TabularImportingParserBase {
         
         JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "guessCellValueTypes", false);
         JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "processQuotes", true);
+        JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "quoteCharacter", CSVParser.DEFAULT_QUOTE_CHARACTER);
 
         return options;
     }
@@ -98,9 +100,15 @@ public class SeparatorBasedImporter extends TabularImportingParserBase {
         boolean processQuotes = JSONUtilities.getBoolean(options, "processQuotes", true);
         boolean strictQuotes = JSONUtilities.getBoolean(options, "strictQuotes", false);
         
+        Character quote = CSVParser.DEFAULT_QUOTE_CHARACTER;
+        String quoteCharacter = JSONUtilities.getString(options, "quoteCharacter", null);
+        if (!StringUtils.isBlank(quoteCharacter)) {
+            quote = quoteCharacter.charAt(0);
+        }
+        
         final CSVParser parser = new CSVParser(
             sep,
-            CSVParser.DEFAULT_QUOTE_CHARACTER,
+            quote,
             (char) 0, // we don't want escape processing
             strictQuotes,
             CSVParser.DEFAULT_IGNORE_LEADING_WHITESPACE,
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/TsvCsvImporterTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/TsvCsvImporterTests.java
index 8a2ac99e2..3eba3f68a 100644
--- a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/TsvCsvImporterTests.java
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/TsvCsvImporterTests.java
@@ -487,6 +487,33 @@ public class TsvCsvImporterTests extends ImporterTest {
         Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.get(1).value, "data2");
     }
 
+
+    @Test(dataProvider = "CSV-TSV-AutoDetermine")
+    public void readSimpleData_CSV_1Header_1Row_singleQuote(String sep){
+        //create input to test with
+        String inputSeparator =  sep == null ? "\t" : sep;
+        String input = "'col1'" + inputSeparator + "'col2'" + inputSeparator + "'col3'\n" +
+                       "'data1'" + inputSeparator + "'data2'" + inputSeparator + "'data3'";
+        
+        
+        try {
+            prepareOptions(sep, -1, 0, 0, 1, false, false, "'");
+            parseOneFile(SUT, new StringReader(input));
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            Assert.fail("Exception during file parse",e);
+        }
+        
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.columnModel.columns.size(), 3);
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.columnModel.columns.get(0).getName(), "col1");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.columnModel.columns.get(1).getName(), "col2");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.columnModel.columns.get(2).getName(), "col3");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.size(), 1);
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.size(), 3);
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.get(0).value, "data1");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.get(1).value, "data2");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.get(2).value, "data3");
+    }
+    
     //---------------------read tests------------------------
     @Test
     public void readCsvWithProperties() {
@@ -542,12 +569,17 @@ public class TsvCsvImporterTests extends ImporterTest {
                 {","},{"\t"},{null}
         };
     }
-    
+    private void prepareOptions(
+            String sep, int limit, int skip, int ignoreLines,
+            int headerLines, boolean guessValueType, boolean ignoreQuotes) {
+        prepareOptions(sep, limit, skip, ignoreLines, headerLines, guessValueType, ignoreQuotes, "\"");
+    }
     private void prepareOptions(
         String sep, int limit, int skip, int ignoreLines,
-        int headerLines, boolean guessValueType, boolean ignoreQuotes) {
+        int headerLines, boolean guessValueType, boolean ignoreQuotes, String quoteCharacter) {
         
         whenGetStringOption("separator", options, sep);
+        whenGetStringOption("quoteCharacter", options, quoteCharacter);
         whenGetIntegerOption("limit", options, limit);
         whenGetIntegerOption("skipDataLines", options, skip);
         whenGetIntegerOption("ignoreLines", options, ignoreLines);