The Trade Ministry report, published on its Web site at www.mot.gov.vn, forecast domestic coffee prices next month would rise to around 10,700 dong (67.9 cents) per kg as the harvest is nearing an end, from 9,900 dong to 9,950 dong this week.
Traders said around 80 percent of the crop in the Central Highlands coffee belt had been picked. The four-month harvest normally ends next month.
They said exporters were holding on to stocks, anticipating world prices would rise in coming months as industry analysts forecast a global deficit in 2005. Coffee is the world's second-biggest commodity after crude oil.
Vietnam's coffee crop year runs from October through September. The bulk of the country's bean exports consists mainly of the robusta variety, widely used for making instant coffee.
The government on Tuesday estimated December coffee exports at 60,000 tonnes, bringing the volume shipped this year to 906,000 tonnes, or 15.1 million bags, a rise of 20.9 percent from 2003.
The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, the industry body, estimated the current crop's output would fall 10 percent from its previous estimate of between 13 million and 13.5 million bags, citing higher production costs and erratic weather.
Traders said the output from the crop would reach between 900,000 tonnes and 1 million tonnes, versus 900,000 tonnes in the previous season that ended in September.