diff --git a/news/1150.feature b/news/1150.feature
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..84b5bb3e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/1150.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The YAML parser will now use `yaml.CSafeLoader` instead of `yaml.SafeLoader` whenever possible to speed up parsing
diff --git a/omegaconf/_utils.py b/omegaconf/_utils.py
index a2582f7e1..ec07aa51f 100644
--- a/omegaconf/_utils.py
+++ b/omegaconf/_utils.py
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@
 except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
     attr = None  # type: ignore # pragma: no cover
 
+try:
+    from yaml import CSafeLoader
+
+    BaseLoader = CSafeLoader
+except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
+    BaseLoader = yaml.SafeLoader
+
 NoneType: Type[None] = type(None)
 
 BUILTIN_VALUE_TYPES: Tuple[Type[Any], ...] = (
@@ -123,7 +130,7 @@ def yaml_is_bool(b: str) -> bool:
 
 
 def get_yaml_loader() -> Any:
-    class OmegaConfLoader(yaml.SafeLoader):  # type: ignore
+    class OmegaConfLoader(BaseLoader):  # type: ignore
         def construct_mapping(self, node: yaml.Node, deep: bool = False) -> Any:
             keys = set()
             for key_node, value_node in node.value: