diff --git a/netcdf.spec b/netcdf.spec
index 0412157..cedf1ef 100644
--- a/netcdf.spec
+++ b/netcdf.spec
@@ -190,7 +190,6 @@ ln -s ../configure .
 popd
 
 # MPI builds
-export CC=mpicc
 for mpi in %{mpi_list}
 do
   mkdir $mpi
@@ -199,6 +198,7 @@ do
   ln -s ../configure .
   # parallel tests hang on s390(x)
   %configure %{configure_opts} \
+    CC=mpicc \
     --libdir=%{_libdir}/$mpi/lib \
     --bindir=%{_libdir}/$mpi/bin \
     --sbindir=%{_libdir}/$mpi/sbin \