diff --git a/bentoml/_internal/frameworks/mlflow.py b/bentoml/_internal/frameworks/mlflow.py
index 4b4768c15bb..bf88bfc1d04 100644
--- a/bentoml/_internal/frameworks/mlflow.py
+++ b/bentoml/_internal/frameworks/mlflow.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import shutil
 import typing as t
 import logging
+import tempfile
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
 import bentoml
@@ -185,8 +186,6 @@ def import_model(
         metadata=metadata,
         context=context,
     ) as bento_model:
-        import tempfile
-
         from mlflow.models import Model as MLflowModel
         from mlflow.pyfunc import FLAVOR_NAME as PYFUNC_FLAVOR_NAME
         from mlflow.models.model import MLMODEL_FILE_NAME