diff --git a/local/full/kafka-client/create-topics.sh b/local/full/kafka-client/create-topics.sh
index a4116901..f9a08910 100755
--- a/local/full/kafka-client/create-topics.sh
+++ b/local/full/kafka-client/create-topics.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+/opt/kafka/bin/kafka-topics.sh --list --zookeeper zookeeper:2181 > exists-topics.txt
 while read topic; do
-  /opt/kafka/bin/kafka-topics.sh --create --zookeeper zookeeper:2181 --partitions 1 --replication-factor 1 --topic $topic
-done < topics.txt
+  /opt/kafka/bin/kafka-topics.sh --create --if-not-exists --zookeeper zookeeper:2181 --partitions 1 --replication-factor 1 --topic $topic
+done < <(sort topics.txt exists-topics.txt exists-topics.txt | uniq -u)