One of the great successes of David Cameron's trip to China was an agreement to sell the country £45m-worth of British pig semen. It's good news for British exports in general, but not necessarily a deal you'd care to boast about during prime minister's questions. Of course pig semen is not the only embarrassing export to leave these shores. Here are just a few more.
Other kinds of semen
The UK exports bovine semen to countries including France, Kenya, Indonesia and Albania. Britain also exports dog semen and horse semen, and imports red-deer semen.
Empty boxes
Rising paper prices have created a lucrative market for recycled cardboard, especially in China. Basically, when China ships a new TV to the UK, we sell them back the box it came in, which they use to make a new box. It's green, efficient and rather canny, but it's a little embarrassing that even our exported empty boxes are being imported back, only full.
Bendy buses
The much-maligned bendy bus was removed from London's streets at the end of 2011, but the manufacturer, Arrive, sold a whole fleet to Malta, where they proved just as unpopular. Service was suspended in the summer after three of the buses caught fire.
Midsomer Murders
The Oxfordshire-set murder mystery series has proved popular in the US, Canada and Australia. It's also the most watched imported TV show in Denmark, where it has a 40% of the audience share. DI Barnaby even travelled to the home of The Killing to film a special 100th episode.
Piers Morgan
Former Mirror editor and professional irritant Morgan is now big in America, with his own talk show on CNN. Over there only the gun nuts don't like him, although that is admittedly a lot of people.
