Consumers will dig deeper into their pockets when purchasing eggs. This is after Kenya imposed a 25 percent excise duty on the commodity cutting the supply amid rising demand.

On the other hand, Kenya mostly leans on cheap eggs from Uganda to check against high prices locally. Nonetheless, the current move by Nairobi to impose duty has seen most traders shy from importing the product.

A tray of eggs will now cost 420. Last two weeks, a tray used to cost Sh360.

“We are not getting enough eggs at the moment and we have been told by our suppliers that there is a shortage in supply from Uganda,” said James Ng’ang’a, a trader at the Maziwa eggs market in Nairobi.

Consequently, in April, a court granted a temporary order deterring the government from collecting or exacting taxes on table eggs imported from Uganda after a lobby — Eggs Traders Association of Kenya — moved to court challenging the execution.