diff --git a/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/text/DecimalFormat.java b/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/text/DecimalFormat.java
index 73bd53415f..9829801332 100644
--- a/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/text/DecimalFormat.java
+++ b/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/text/DecimalFormat.java
@@ -1819,8 +1819,8 @@ public class DecimalFormat extends NumberFormat {
       // Set to a reasonable default value
       properties.setGroupingSize(3);
     } else {
-      properties.setGroupingSize(-1);
-      properties.setSecondaryGroupingSize(-1);
+      properties.setGroupingSize(0);
+      properties.setSecondaryGroupingSize(0);
     }
     refreshFormatter();
   }