diff --git a/swh/dataset/exporters/orc.py b/swh/dataset/exporters/orc.py
--- a/swh/dataset/exporters/orc.py
+++ b/swh/dataset/exporters/orc.py
@@ -116,7 +116,8 @@
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
-        self.max_rows = self.config.get("max_rows", {})
+        config = self.config.get("orc", {})
+        self.max_rows = config.get("max_rows", {})
         invalid_tables = [
             table_name for table_name in self.max_rows
             if table_name not in MAIN_TABLES
@@ -237,7 +238,7 @@
         )
 
     def process_snapshot(self, snapshot):
-        if self.config.get("remove_pull_requests"):
+        if self.config.get("orc", {}).get("remove_pull_requests"):
             remove_pull_requests(snapshot)
         snapshot_writer = self.get_writer_for("snapshot")
         snapshot_writer.write((hash_to_hex_or_none(snapshot["id"]),))
diff --git a/swh/dataset/test/test_orc.py b/swh/dataset/test/test_orc.py
--- a/swh/dataset/test/test_orc.py
+++ b/swh/dataset/test/test_orc.py
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@
 def test_export_related_files(max_rows, obj_type, tmpdir):
     config = {}
     if max_rows is not None:
-        config["max_rows"] = {obj_type: max_rows}
+        config["orc"] = {"max_rows": {obj_type: max_rows}}
     exporter({obj_type: TEST_OBJECTS[obj_type]}, config=config, tmpdir=tmpdir)
     # check there are as many ORC files as objects
     orcfiles = [fname for fname in (tmpdir / obj_type).listdir(f"{obj_type}-*.orc")]
@@ -283,6 +283,6 @@
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("table_name", RELATION_TABLES.keys())
 def test_export_invalid_max_rows(table_name):
-    config = {"max_rows": {table_name: 10}}
+    config = {"orc": {"max_rows": {table_name: 10}}}
     with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         exporter({}, config=config)