diff --git a/framework/base/src/main/java/org/apache/ofbiz/base/util/ObjectType.java b/framework/base/src/main/java/org/apache/ofbiz/base/util/ObjectType.java
index 6e98f5bd668..b2d2cdd973c 100644
--- a/framework/base/src/main/java/org/apache/ofbiz/base/util/ObjectType.java
+++ b/framework/base/src/main/java/org/apache/ofbiz/base/util/ObjectType.java
@@ -330,6 +330,12 @@ public static Object simpleTypeOrObjectConvert(Object obj, String type, String f
         }
 
         if (converter != null) {
+            // numeric types : replace everything that's not in [:IsAlnum:] or [:IsPunct:] classes by an empty string
+            List<?> numericClasses = UtilMisc.toList(BigDecimal.class, Double.class, Float.class, Long.class);
+            if (obj instanceof String && numericClasses.contains(targetClass)) {
+                obj = ((String) obj).replaceAll("[^\\p{IsAlnum}\\p{IsPunct}]", "");
+            }
+
             if (converter instanceof LocalizedConverter) {
                 LocalizedConverter<Object, Object> localizedConverter = UtilGenerics.cast(converter);
                 if (timeZone == null) {
diff --git a/framework/base/src/test/java/org/apache/ofbiz/base/util/ObjectTypeTests.java b/framework/base/src/test/java/org/apache/ofbiz/base/util/ObjectTypeTests.java
index c6308597fd6..4b5ace55f5e 100644
--- a/framework/base/src/test/java/org/apache/ofbiz/base/util/ObjectTypeTests.java
+++ b/framework/base/src/test/java/org/apache/ofbiz/base/util/ObjectTypeTests.java
@@ -385,6 +385,12 @@ public void testString() throws GeneralException, Exception {
                 new String[] {"TimeDuration", "org.apache.ofbiz.base.util.TimeDuration"}, duration);
         simpleTypeOrObjectConvertTestError("String->error-TimeDuration", "o",
                 new String[] {"TimeDuration", "org.apache.ofbiz.base.util.TimeDuration"});
+
+        // usual pattern assumes that the String->BigDecimal conversion will break with bad timezone/locale
+        // which is not the case for this particular test
+        assertEquals("String->BigDecimal supports NBSP",
+                simpleTypeOrObjectConvert("29 000", "BigDecimal", null, LOCALE_DATA.goodTimeZone,
+                        LOCALE_DATA.goodLocale, false), largeBigDecimal);
     }
 
     @Test