How Brazil produces cheaper and exports expensive commodities

The long, brutal haul from farm to port in Brazil

 "The cost of Mendonça's haul amounted to nearly 40 percent of what the 37 metric tonnes (40.7 tons) of corn sold for in Santos. Transport across a similar distance in the United States, mostly by barge, amounts to only 10 percent of the price of U.S. corn at port."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/01/us-brazil-transport-grains-idUSBRE8A014020121101