The exporters’ association Adoexpo has expressed its opposition to the 20% increase in port duties, announced last week by Presidential decree. Adoexpo president Jose Antonio Flaquer Lopez said that this should not have been done without reviewing the state-run port authority’s operational costs. He claimed that his association had not been consulted in the lead up to the decision, and that there was a lot of unnecessary expenditure involved in the port authority, mainly due to what he described as excessive numbers of employees. This number could be cut down by half or even more, he added. Flaquer Lopez said that if the government could show that it had rationalized this expenditure, then the exporters would be prepared to accept an increase in duties.