diff --git a/src/main/antlr4/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/ddl/mysql.g4 b/src/main/antlr4/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/ddl/mysql.g4
index a97c445bd..ea1905d2e 100644
--- a/src/main/antlr4/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/ddl/mysql.g4
+++ b/src/main/antlr4/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/ddl/mysql.g4
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ create_table:
       | create_like_tbl
     );
     
-// TODO: support if-not-exists
 create_table_preamble: CREATE TEMPORARY? TABLE (IF NOT EXISTS)? table_name;
 create_specifications: '(' create_specification (',' create_specification)* ')'; 
 
diff --git a/src/main/antlr4/imports/column_definitions.g4 b/src/main/antlr4/imports/column_definitions.g4
index e859850f8..5a5f17e45 100644
--- a/src/main/antlr4/imports/column_definitions.g4
+++ b/src/main/antlr4/imports/column_definitions.g4
@@ -38,8 +38,10 @@ signed_type: // we need the UNSIGNED flag here
 string_type: // getting the encoding here 
 	  col_type=(CHAR | VARCHAR)
 	           length?
+	           BINARY?
 	           charset_def?
-    | col_type=(TINYTEXT | TEXT | MEDIUMTEXT | LONGTEXT) 
+    | col_type=(TINYTEXT | TEXT | MEDIUMTEXT | LONGTEXT)
+    			BINARY?
   		        charset_def?
 	  ;
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/ddl/DDLParserTest.java b/src/test/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/ddl/DDLParserTest.java
index a58a4f4a9..f9af60f41 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/ddl/DDLParserTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/schema/ddl/DDLParserTest.java
@@ -358,4 +358,9 @@ public void testCurrentTimestamp() {
 		assertThat(changes.size(), is(1));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testBinaryChar() {
+		List<SchemaChange> changes = parse("CREATE TABLE `foo` ( `id` char(16) BINARY character set 'utf8' )");
+		assertThat(changes.size(), is(1));
+	}
 }