diff --git a/swh/loader/svn/tests/test_utils.py b/swh/loader/svn/tests/test_utils.py
--- a/swh/loader/svn/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/swh/loader/svn/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 import logging
 import os
+from pathlib import Path
 import pty
 import shutil
 from subprocess import Popen
@@ -43,6 +44,18 @@
     assert os.path.exists(repo_path), "Repository should exists"
 
 
+def test_init_svn_repo_from_dump_svnadmin_error(tmp_path):
+    """svnadmin load error should be reported in exception text"""
+    dump_path = os.path.join(tmp_path, "foo")
+    Path(dump_path).touch()
+
+    with pytest.raises(
+        ValueError,
+        match="svnadmin: E200003: Premature end of content data in dumpstream",
+    ):
+        utils.init_svn_repo_from_dump(dump_path, cleanup_dump=False, root_dir=tmp_path)
+
+
 def test_init_svn_repo_from_dump_and_cleanup(datadir, tmp_path):
     """Mounting svn repository with a dump cleanup after is ok"""
     dump_name = "penguinsdbtools2018.dump.gz"
diff --git a/swh/loader/svn/utils.py b/swh/loader/svn/utils.py
--- a/swh/loader/svn/utils.py
+++ b/swh/loader/svn/utils.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 import os
 import re
 import shutil
-from subprocess import PIPE, Popen, call
+from subprocess import PIPE, Popen, call, run
 import tempfile
 from typing import Optional, Tuple
 from urllib.parse import quote, urlparse, urlunparse
@@ -111,10 +111,13 @@
             # are already handled in loader implementation (see _ra_codecs_error_handler
             # in ra.py)
             cmd = ["svnadmin", "load", "-q", "--bypass-prop-validation", repo_path]
-            r = call(cmd, stdin=dump.stdout)
-            if r != 0:
+            completed_process = run(
+                cmd, stdin=dump.stdout, capture_output=True, text=True
+            )
+            if completed_process.returncode != 0:
                 raise ValueError(
-                    "Failed to mount the svn dump for project %s" % project_name
+                    f"Failed to mount the svn dump for project {project_name}\n"
+                    + completed_process.stderr
                 )
             return temp_dir, repo_path
     except Exception as e: