At the busy Koja Bus terminal in Nairobi, Joel Ndung'u is busy preparing boiled eggs spiced with kachumbari for his customers.
However the price of the delicacy that provides one of the cheapest forms of proteins to Kenyans has been on the rise and the latest review will see his customer’s part with Sh30 shillings to enjoy.
The change in price according to traders has been necessitated by the tough economic times and increased fuel prices.
Ndung'u says that a combination of increase in transport costs associated with the spike in fuel prices and production costs has led to a price review.
"Last month we used to buy eggs at a whole sale price of about Sh400 now the same goes for Sh500. This has slowed our business, even the wholesalers are not selling as much as they used to,” said Ndungu.
He traders are yet to factor in the latest fuel price review, which will further push up the price of eggs.
A spot-check by the Star across Nairobi showed that in the past one month the prices have gone up with some outlets selling an egg for Sh22.
The price of eggs has risen to about 18 to 19 shillings in the residential estates but traders have rounded this off to Sh20.
Kenya relies on imported eggs from Uganda and South Africa to stabilise the price of the commodity locally given that the ones produced here are very expensive.
However, persistent border trade disputes for different commodities has seen the price of eggs locally shoot up significantly from a low of Sh380 a tray in December to double that price in October.
Kenya has been embroiled in a trade war with Uganda on some commodities such as egg and milk since 2020, a matter that remains unresolved.
Despite assurances by Uganda to Kenya that it can supply cheaper eggs in the past few months, it has not materialised.
Currently the retail price for a tray of eggs ranges between Sh550 and Sh600 depending on whether one buys from local shops or major supermarkets.
Local retailer Quickmart is selling a 15-pack tray of eggs for Sh342, a 30 pack at Sh581 and a six-pack at Sh156.
This essentially means that a single egg in the different bands goes for Sh23, Sh19 per, Sh26 respectively.
At Naivas a crate containing 20 eggs is retailing at Sh420 (Sh21 per egg), one with 15 goes for Sh330 (22 an egg) and crate with 6 is sold at Sh140 (23).
The government had earlier in the year assured that the prices of the commodity was going to come down with importation of yellow maize that was to provide feeds.
National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u had in February granted the nod for duty-free importation of 900,000 metric tonnes of white maize grain and 600,000 metric tonnes of milled rice.
This did little to reduce the situation with farmers now decrying increased production costs.
Kiambu Farmers’ Cooperative Society coordinator Zachary Munyambu said that they have to contend with increased transport costs, which they have to pass on.
According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation's 2019 statistics, Kenya has an estimated 43.8 million chickens, contributing 5.1 per cent of the total livestock value added.
Poultry meat production is at 35,000 tonnes per year, while egg production is at 1.6 billion pieces per year.