Stacked containers sit among gantry cranes illuminated at dusk at Tanjong Pagar Container Terminal at the Port of Singapore.

Singapore's exports in October shrank more than expected as sales to major markets fell, with those to Europe contracting sharply and raising risks of a recession in the trade-dependent economy.

Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) skidded 12 percent last month from a year earlier, the trade agency International Enterprise Singapore said in a statement on Thursday, far worse than the median forecast of a 3.5 percent decline in a Reuters poll.

In September, overseas shipments slumped a revised 5 percent on-year though the decline in sales to China slowed. On a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis, exports decreased 3.7 percent in October, missing a forecast of a 1 percent slide in the survey.

Exports to the European Union contracted 28.6 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with 9.9 percent growth in September.

Contraction in sales of pharmaceuticals, non-electric engines & motors, as well as personal computers led the decline in October.