diff --git a/pkg/resources/istioingress/meshgateway.go b/pkg/resources/istioingress/meshgateway.go
index 999472ee8..c13151864 100644
--- a/pkg/resources/istioingress/meshgateway.go
+++ b/pkg/resources/istioingress/meshgateway.go
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ func (r *Reconciler) meshgateway(log logr.Logger, externalListenerConfig v1beta1
 						PodAnnotations: ingressConfig.IstioIngressConfig.GetAnnotations(),
 					},
 				},
-				ServiceType: ingressConfig.GetServiceType(),
+				ServiceType:                  ingressConfig.GetServiceType(),
+				ServiceExternalTrafficPolicy: ingressConfig.ExternalTrafficPolicy,
 			},
 			Ports: generateExternalPorts(r.KafkaCluster,
 				util.GetBrokerIdsFromStatusAndSpec(r.KafkaCluster.Status.BrokersState, r.KafkaCluster.Spec.Brokers, log),