diff --git a/apisix/core/config_xds.lua b/apisix/core/config_xds.lua
index bdb45206a917..21aacee2ecd8 100644
--- a/apisix/core/config_xds.lua
+++ b/apisix/core/config_xds.lua
@@ -329,7 +329,9 @@ function _M.new(key, opts)
             err = ok2
         end
 
-        if err then
+        -- "no keys" means the xds key has no data yet, not a failure; the
+        -- periodic fetch loop above already treats it as non-error
+        if err and err ~= "no keys" then
             log.error("failed to fetch data from xds ",
                       err, ", ", key)
         end