Inserts can be painfully slow in autocommit mode because each commit involves an update of the log on the disk for each INSERT statement. The commit will not return until a physical disk write is executed. To speed things up:

• Run in autocommit false mode, execute a number of inserts in one transaction, and then explicitly issue a commit.
• If your application allows an initial load into the table, you can use the import procedures to insert data into a table. Derby will not log the individual inserts when loading into an empty table using these interfaces. See the Derby Tools and Utilities Guide Guide for more information on the import procedures.