SINGAPORE'S manufacturing fell in September, reversing two months of gains, as the city-state's recovery from recession sputtered.

Industrial production fell 7.7 percent from a year earlier following a 12 percent increase in August and a 17 percent jump in July, the Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement yesterday. Manufacturing in September fell a seasonally adjusted 9.1 percent from August.

Pharmaceuticals, which account for about a fifth of Singapore's industrial production, fell 15 percent after soaring 108 percent in August.

The island's economy expanded an annualized seasonally adjusted 15 percent in the July to September period, a second straight quarter of growth after a year of contraction. The government expects the economy to shrink up to 2.5 percent this year after growing 1.1 percent last year.