$gnupg->encrypt takes too long

[adm2007]

putenv('GNUPGHOME=/home/share/.gnupg' );
$gpg = new gnupg();
$info = $gpg -> keyinfo("xxxx"); 
$gpg -> addencryptkey($info[0]['subkeys'][0]['fingerprint']);
$enc = $gpg -> encrypt("just a test");
echo $enc;

 

The  above code is taking over 30secs to execute - encrypt() is the cuprit.

Any reason why this should be so?

 

I used to call gpg using system().

I'd rather use gnupg functions now but obviously

cant when it's that slow.

 

Any ideas greatly appreciated.