diff --git a/news/1152.feature b/news/1152.feature
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..72aaff48c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/1152.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The YAML dumper will now use `yaml.CDumper` instead of `yaml.Dumper` whenever possible to speed up dumping
diff --git a/omegaconf/_utils.py b/omegaconf/_utils.py
index ec07aa51f..2575f0452 100644
--- a/omegaconf/_utils.py
+++ b/omegaconf/_utils.py
@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@
 except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
     BaseLoader = yaml.SafeLoader
 
+try:
+    from yaml import CDumper
+
+    BaseDumper = CDumper
+except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
+    BaseDumper = yaml.Dumper
+
 NoneType: Type[None] = type(None)
 
 BUILTIN_VALUE_TYPES: Tuple[Type[Any], ...] = (
@@ -105,7 +112,7 @@ def __repr__(self) -> str:
 _DEFAULT_MARKER_: Any = Marker("_DEFAULT_MARKER_")
 
 
-class OmegaConfDumper(yaml.Dumper):  # type: ignore
+class OmegaConfDumper(BaseDumper):  # type: ignore
     str_representer_added = False
 
     @staticmethod