A number of countries across Africa this week are reporting trade figures for the first half of the year and they’re surprisingly mixed given the enormous disruption brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak.

In some cases, a sharp fall in Chinese imports has been both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, fewer Chinese imported goods help to narrow the enormous trade deficits that most African countries have with China. This helps when countries don’t have to spend as much of their foreign currency on imported products and, in some instances, it’s also giving room to domestic producers to help make up the difference.