diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/commands/multi_copy.c b/src/backend/distributed/commands/multi_copy.c
index b900617e9..52eb3fa7e 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/commands/multi_copy.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/commands/multi_copy.c
@@ -156,6 +156,8 @@ static void CopyAttributeOutText(CopyOutState outputState, char *string);
 static inline void CopyFlushOutput(CopyOutState outputState, char *start, char *pointer);
 static bool CitusSendTupleToPlacements(TupleTableSlot *slot,
 									   CitusCopyDestReceiver *copyDest);
+static uint64 ShardIdForTuple(CitusCopyDestReceiver *copyDest, Datum *columnValues,
+							  bool *columnNulls);
 
 /* CitusCopyDestReceiver functions */
 static void CitusCopyDestReceiverStartup(DestReceiver *copyDest, int operation,
@@ -2277,7 +2279,6 @@ CitusCopyDestReceiverReceive(TupleTableSlot *slot, DestReceiver *dest)
 static bool
 CitusSendTupleToPlacements(TupleTableSlot *slot, CitusCopyDestReceiver *copyDest)
 {
-	int partitionColumnIndex = copyDest->partitionColumnIndex;
 	TupleDesc tupleDescriptor = copyDest->tupleDescriptor;
 	CopyStmt *copyStatement = copyDest->copyStatement;
 
@@ -2291,8 +2292,6 @@ CitusSendTupleToPlacements(TupleTableSlot *slot, CitusCopyDestReceiver *copyDest
 	Datum *columnValues = NULL;
 	bool *columnNulls = NULL;
 
-	Datum partitionColumnValue = 0;
-	ShardInterval *shardInterval = NULL;
 	int64 shardId = 0;
 
 	bool shardConnectionsFound = false;
@@ -2307,54 +2306,7 @@ CitusSendTupleToPlacements(TupleTableSlot *slot, CitusCopyDestReceiver *copyDest
 	columnValues = slot->tts_values;
 	columnNulls = slot->tts_isnull;
 
-	/*
-	 * Find the partition column value and corresponding shard interval
-	 * for non-reference tables.
-	 * Get the existing (and only a single) shard interval for the reference
-	 * tables. Note that, reference tables has NULL partition column values so
-	 * skip the check.
-	 */
-	if (partitionColumnIndex != INVALID_PARTITION_COLUMN_INDEX)
-	{
-		CopyCoercionData *coercePath = &columnCoercionPaths[partitionColumnIndex];
-
-		if (columnNulls[partitionColumnIndex])
-		{
-			Oid relationId = copyDest->distributedRelationId;
-			char *relationName = get_rel_name(relationId);
-			Oid schemaOid = get_rel_namespace(relationId);
-			char *schemaName = get_namespace_name(schemaOid);
-			char *qualifiedTableName = quote_qualified_identifier(schemaName,
-																  relationName);
-
-			ereport(ERROR, (errcode(ERRCODE_NULL_VALUE_NOT_ALLOWED),
-							errmsg("the partition column of table %s cannot be NULL",
-								   qualifiedTableName)));
-		}
-
-		/* find the partition column value */
-		partitionColumnValue = columnValues[partitionColumnIndex];
-
-		/* annoyingly this is evaluated twice, but at least we don't crash! */
-		partitionColumnValue = CoerceColumnValue(partitionColumnValue, coercePath);
-	}
-
-	/*
-	 * Find the shard interval and id for the partition column value for
-	 * non-reference tables.
-	 *
-	 * For reference table, this function blindly returns the tables single
-	 * shard.
-	 */
-	shardInterval = FindShardInterval(partitionColumnValue, copyDest->tableMetadata);
-	if (shardInterval == NULL)
-	{
-		ereport(ERROR, (errcode(ERRCODE_OBJECT_NOT_IN_PREREQUISITE_STATE),
-						errmsg("could not find shard for partition column "
-							   "value")));
-	}
-
-	shardId = shardInterval->shardId;
+	shardId = ShardIdForTuple(copyDest, columnValues, columnNulls);
 
 	/* connections hash is kept in memory context */
 	MemoryContextSwitchTo(copyDest->memoryContext);
@@ -2416,6 +2368,68 @@ CitusSendTupleToPlacements(TupleTableSlot *slot, CitusCopyDestReceiver *copyDest
 }
 
 
+/*
+ * ShardIdForTuple returns id of the shard to which the given tuple belongs to.
+ */
+static uint64
+ShardIdForTuple(CitusCopyDestReceiver *copyDest, Datum *columnValues, bool *columnNulls)
+{
+	int partitionColumnIndex = copyDest->partitionColumnIndex;
+	Datum partitionColumnValue = 0;
+	CopyCoercionData *columnCoercionPaths = copyDest->columnCoercionPaths;
+	ShardInterval *shardInterval = NULL;
+
+	/*
+	 * Find the partition column value and corresponding shard interval
+	 * for non-reference tables.
+	 * Get the existing (and only a single) shard interval for the reference
+	 * tables. Note that, reference tables has NULL partition column values so
+	 * skip the check.
+	 */
+	if (partitionColumnIndex != INVALID_PARTITION_COLUMN_INDEX)
+	{
+		CopyCoercionData *coercePath = &columnCoercionPaths[partitionColumnIndex];
+
+		if (columnNulls[partitionColumnIndex])
+		{
+			Oid relationId = copyDest->distributedRelationId;
+			char *relationName = get_rel_name(relationId);
+			Oid schemaOid = get_rel_namespace(relationId);
+			char *schemaName = get_namespace_name(schemaOid);
+			char *qualifiedTableName = quote_qualified_identifier(schemaName,
+																  relationName);
+
+			ereport(ERROR, (errcode(ERRCODE_NULL_VALUE_NOT_ALLOWED),
+							errmsg("the partition column of table %s cannot be NULL",
+								   qualifiedTableName)));
+		}
+
+		/* find the partition column value */
+		partitionColumnValue = columnValues[partitionColumnIndex];
+
+		/* annoyingly this is evaluated twice, but at least we don't crash! */
+		partitionColumnValue = CoerceColumnValue(partitionColumnValue, coercePath);
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * Find the shard interval and id for the partition column value for
+	 * non-reference tables.
+	 *
+	 * For reference table, this function blindly returns the tables single
+	 * shard.
+	 */
+	shardInterval = FindShardInterval(partitionColumnValue, copyDest->tableMetadata);
+	if (shardInterval == NULL)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errcode(ERRCODE_OBJECT_NOT_IN_PREREQUISITE_STATE),
+						errmsg("could not find shard for partition column "
+							   "value")));
+	}
+
+	return shardInterval->shardId;
+}
+
+
 /*
  * CitusCopyDestReceiverShutdown implements the rShutdown interface of
  * CitusCopyDestReceiver. It ends the COPY on all the open connections and closes