diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION b/release-notes/VERSION
index 7e9b285..3d6426a 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 Project: jackson-dataformat-csv
 Version: 2.3.3 (xx-xxx-2014)
 
+#33: CSV is written without column separators if first column is null
+ (reported by Paul M)
 - Fix a minor problem with `CsvSchema` defaults: was setting default
   escape char to be same as default quote (i.e. double-quote)
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/csv/CsvGenerator.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/csv/CsvGenerator.java
index 1674307..461e569 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/csv/CsvGenerator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/csv/CsvGenerator.java
@@ -139,8 +139,7 @@ public Version version() {
      * (should we throw an exception instead?)
      */
     @Override
-    public CsvGenerator useDefaultPrettyPrinter()
-    {
+    public CsvGenerator useDefaultPrettyPrinter() {
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -597,8 +596,7 @@ protected final void _verifyValueWrite(String typeMsg)
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void _releaseBuffers()
-    {
+    protected void _releaseBuffers() {
         _writer._releaseBuffers();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/csv/impl/CsvWriter.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/csv/impl/CsvWriter.java
index 71647d7..f025e8f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/csv/impl/CsvWriter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/csv/impl/CsvWriter.java
@@ -273,9 +273,10 @@ public void endRow() throws IOException
             _lastBuffered = -1;
             for (int i = _nextColumnToWrite; i <= last; ++i) {
                 BufferedValue value = _buffered[i];
-                if (value == null) { // missing value still needs separator
+                if (i > _nextColumnToWrite) {
                     appendColumnSeparator();
-                } else {
+                }
+                if (value != null) {
                     _buffered[i] = null;
                     value.write(this);
                 }
@@ -304,7 +305,7 @@ protected void appendValue(String value) throws IOException
             _flushBuffer();
         }
         if (_nextColumnToWrite > 0) {
-            _outputBuffer[_outputTail++] = _cfgColumnSeparator;
+            appendColumnSeparator();
         }
         /* First: determine if we need quotes; simple heuristics;
          * only check for short Strings, stop if something found
@@ -382,14 +383,11 @@ protected void appendValue(boolean value) throws IOException
         _outputTail += len;
     }
 
-    protected void appendColumnSeparator() throws IOException
-    {
-        if (_nextColumnToWrite > 0) {
-            if (_outputTail >= _outputTail) {
-                _flushBuffer();
-            }
-            _outputBuffer[_outputTail++] = _cfgColumnSeparator;
+    protected void appendColumnSeparator() throws IOException {
+        if (_outputTail >= _outputTail) {
+            _flushBuffer();
         }
+        _outputBuffer[_outputTail++] = _cfgColumnSeparator;
     }
     
     /*