diff --git a/lib/manager/npm/extract/index.js b/lib/manager/npm/extract/index.js
index 1a6441812362f21d6dde42899f38d1d8ef5d4698..7ebf3f35faf760ed622482d9872b3ec945a081ce 100644
--- a/lib/manager/npm/extract/index.js
+++ b/lib/manager/npm/extract/index.js
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ async function extractDependencies(content, packageFile) {
   if (lernaJson) {
     lernaDir = path.dirname(packageFile);
     lernaPackages = lernaJson.packages;
-    lernaClient = lernaJson.npmClient;
+    lernaClient = lernaJson.npmClient || 'npm';
   }
 
   const depTypes = [
diff --git a/test/manager/npm/extract/__snapshots__/index.spec.js.snap b/test/manager/npm/extract/__snapshots__/index.spec.js.snap
index 4d6546f2c014dbc462d549f4d78f3fad20b48a1c..3323d1bbcb06bb11458e1553881084558486aab0 100644
--- a/test/manager/npm/extract/__snapshots__/index.spec.js.snap
+++ b/test/manager/npm/extract/__snapshots__/index.spec.js.snap
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ Object {
       "depType": "devDependencies",
     },
   ],
-  "lernaClient": undefined,
+  "lernaClient": "npm",
   "lernaDir": ".",
   "lernaPackages": undefined,
   "npmLock": undefined,