The query that I think is so slow is the one in my post, no join, select is on a unique key (sernum). All of the queries in the import prog are returning single base table's index key from selecting the primary key (turning an old flat FP2.6 table(not mine!) into a noramlised Oracle 8.5 table)
Each loop needs to do 8 queries, some take 0.0 seconds to return one record, some take .5 seconds, but the one taking 80+ seconds has me puzzeled. At present it is averaging 5 minuets per source record/loop.