diff --git a/cinderclient/client.py b/cinderclient/client.py
index 6689b5e61..3dac5164c 100644
--- a/cinderclient/client.py
+++ b/cinderclient/client.py
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ import requests
 
 from cinderclient import exceptions
 from cinderclient.openstack.common import importutils
-from cinderclient.openstack.common import strutils
 from cinderclient.openstack.common.gettextutils import _
+from oslo_utils import strutils
 
 osprofiler_web = importutils.try_import("osprofiler.web")
 
diff --git a/cinderclient/shell.py b/cinderclient/shell.py
index e77032022..6d6013259 100644
--- a/cinderclient/shell.py
+++ b/cinderclient/shell.py
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ from cinderclient import utils
 import cinderclient.auth_plugin
 import cinderclient.extension
 from cinderclient.openstack.common import importutils
-from cinderclient.openstack.common import strutils
 from cinderclient.openstack.common.gettextutils import _
 from cinderclient.v1 import shell as shell_v1
 from cinderclient.v2 import shell as shell_v2
@@ -49,6 +48,8 @@ from keystoneclient.auth.identity import v2 as v2_auth
 from keystoneclient.auth.identity import v3 as v3_auth
 from keystoneclient.exceptions import DiscoveryFailure
 import six.moves.urllib.parse as urlparse
+from oslo_utils import encodeutils
+from oslo_utils import strutils
 
 osprofiler_profiler = importutils.try_import("osprofiler.profiler")
 
@@ -902,7 +903,7 @@ def main():
         if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
             OpenStackCinderShell().main(sys.argv[1:])
         else:
-            OpenStackCinderShell().main(map(strutils.safe_decode,
+            OpenStackCinderShell().main(map(encodeutils.safe_decode,
                                             sys.argv[1:]))
     except KeyboardInterrupt:
         print("... terminating cinder client", file=sys.stderr)
diff --git a/cinderclient/utils.py b/cinderclient/utils.py
index 9941bbf55..24ea134eb 100644
--- a/cinderclient/utils.py
+++ b/cinderclient/utils.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import six
 import prettytable
 
 from cinderclient import exceptions
-from cinderclient.openstack.common import strutils
+from oslo_utils import encodeutils
 
 
 def arg(*args, **kwargs):
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ def _print(pt, order):
     if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
         print(pt.get_string(sortby=order))
     else:
-        print(strutils.safe_encode(pt.get_string(sortby=order)))
+        print(encodeutils.safe_encode(pt.get_string(sortby=order)))
 
 
 def print_list(objs, fields, exclude_unavailable=False, formatters=None,
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ def find_resource(manager, name_or_id):
             pass
 
     if sys.version_info <= (3, 0):
-        name_or_id = strutils.safe_decode(name_or_id)
+        name_or_id = encodeutils.safe_decode(name_or_id)
 
     try:
         try:
diff --git a/cinderclient/v1/shell.py b/cinderclient/v1/shell.py
index 6049f0322..9925b6980 100644
--- a/cinderclient/v1/shell.py
+++ b/cinderclient/v1/shell.py
@@ -25,9 +25,9 @@ import sys
 import time
 
 from cinderclient import exceptions
-from cinderclient.openstack.common import strutils
 from cinderclient import utils
 from cinderclient.v1 import availability_zones
+from oslo_utils import strutils
 
 
 def _poll_for_status(poll_fn, obj_id, action, final_ok_states,
diff --git a/cinderclient/v2/shell.py b/cinderclient/v2/shell.py
index 26aedd9c8..15e3edb4f 100644
--- a/cinderclient/v2/shell.py
+++ b/cinderclient/v2/shell.py
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ import six
 from cinderclient import base
 from cinderclient import exceptions
 from cinderclient import utils
-from cinderclient.openstack.common import strutils
 from cinderclient.v2 import availability_zones
+from oslo_utils import strutils
 
 
 def _poll_for_status(poll_fn, obj_id, action, final_ok_states,
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9a0fd0e57..fb4a32fac 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ requests!=2.8.0,>=2.5.2
 simplejson>=2.2.0
 Babel>=1.3
 six>=1.9.0
+oslo.utils>=2.8.0                       # Apache-2.0