In many countries, including Egypt, staples like bread have become much more expensive and harder to come by.
Inflation is driving up the cost of things like fertilizer, which drives up the cost of growing hay and feeding horses.
Restrictions on exports like fertilizer and steel have major economic ramifications for trading partners.
A big reason fertilizer is through the roof? Still-climbing natural gas prices.
The Canadian companies would form the world's largest crop-nutrient supplier.
The BBC's Justin Rowlatt has a new series that looks at the economics behind chemical elements.
