The long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript-1 (MALAT1) has been shown to play an important role in tumourigenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of MALAT1 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. MALAT1 is expressed at higher levels in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tissues than in nontumour tissues and in metastatic PDAC than in localized tumours. Patients with PDAC and high MALAT1 expression levels have shorter overall survival than patients with PDAC and low MALAT1 expression levels. Knocking down MALAT1 reduces pancreatic tumour cell growth and proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, MALAT1 knockdown inhibits cell cycle progression and impairs tumour cell migration and invasion. We found that miR-217 can bind MALAT1 and regulate its expression in PDAC cell lines. We also found MALAT1 knockdown attenuates the protein expression of KRAS, a known target of miR-217. After MALAT1 knockdown, KRAS protein expression levels can be rescued through inhibition of miR-217 expression. More importantly, MALAT1 knockdown does not directly affect cellular miR-217 expression but decreases the miR-217 nucleus/cytoplasm ratio, suggesting that MALAT1 inhibits the translocation of miR-217 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm.