Coffee prices in Vietnam have been soaring for more than a month, with beans fetching 60,000 dong (about $2.50) per kilogram in the Siwon region, a key coffee-growing area, a 15-year high.

Vietnam's Robusta coffee production leads the world, according to the province's Trade and Industry office. In recent years, the demand for Robusta coffee has been increasing, but its production has decreased by about 10 to 15 percent, resulting in a shortage of supply. Coupled with inflation, the price of raw materials, especially agricultural materials, has increased by one to two times, driving up the price of coffee.

Lai Teck Fai, general manager of Simexco Dak Lak, said some coffee exporters were facing shortages and might run out of goods to sell in the last few months of the year.

On the reasons for the decline in Robusta's coffee production, Mr Lai Teck Fai said the sharp rise in agricultural land prices and high agricultural resource prices had led many coffee growers to switch to durian cultivation, resulting in a decline in farmers' coffee acreage.