diff --git a/bin/paraFoam b/bin/paraFoam
index 0b8c5a424..69c3510c4 100755
--- a/bin/paraFoam
+++ b/bin/paraFoam
@@ -48,6 +48,9 @@ USAGE
 
 unset regionName touchOnly useNativeReader
 
+# This is needed for systems that are using comma as the decimal separator
+export LC_NUMERIC=C
+
 # parse options
 while [ "$#" -gt 0 ]
 do