how to load variables from gitlab to .env VueJS

Question

I want to load Gitlab variables to .env.production in a VueJS application so I can use process.env.VUE_APP_VARIABLE_NAME.

What I have done:

1. Create some variables in GitLab CI/CD settings
2. Create a .env.production file:

VUE_APP_EMAILJS_USER_ID=*
VUE_APP_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID=*
VUE_APP_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID=*

VUE_APP_FIREBASE_API_KEY=*
VUE_APP_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN=*
VUE_APP_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=*
VUE_APP_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=*
VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID=*
VUE_APP_FIREBASE_APP_ID=*
VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID=*

3. My .gitlab-ci.yml

build-docker-image:
  stage: build
  before_script:
    # $CI_JOB_TOKEN is variable automatically added by Gitlab: see https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/variables/predefined_variables.html#variables-reference
    - echo $CI_JOB_TOKEN | docker login -u gitlab-ci-token registry.gitlab.com --password-stdin
  script:
    # build and push docker image to gitlab registry
    - docker pull $GITLAB_IMAGE || true # Allows us to use --cache-from
    - docker build 
      --build-arg VUE_APP_EMAILJS_USER_ID=$VUE_APP_EMAILJS_USER_ID
      --build-arg VUE_APP_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID=$VUE_APP_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID
      --build-arg VUE_APP_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID=$VUE_APP_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID
      --build-arg VUE_APP_FIREBASE_API_KEY=$VUE_APP_FIREBASE_API_KEY
      --build-arg VUE_APP_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN=$VUE_APP_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN
      --build-arg VUE_APP_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=$VUE_APP_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID
      --build-arg VUE_APP_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=$VUE_APP_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET
      --build-arg VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID=$VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID
      --build-arg VUE_APP_FIREBASE_APP_ID=$VUE_APP_FIREBASE_APP_ID
      --build-arg VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID=$VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID
      --cache-from $GITLAB_IMAGE -t $GITLAB_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA .
    - docker push $GITLAB_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA

4. Configure .Dockerfile

FROM node:14.18 as build-stage
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
COPY yarn.lock ./
RUN yarn install
COPY . .

# pass Docker varibales to VueJS environment varibales
ARG VUE_APP_EMAILJS_USER_ID
ENV VUE_APP_EMAILJS_USER_ID $VUE_APP_EMAILJS_USER_ID
ARG VUE_APP_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID
ENV VUE_APP_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID $VUE_APP_EMAILJS_SERVICE_ID
ARG VUE_APP_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID
ENV VUE_APP_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID $VUE_APP_EMAILJS_TEMPLATE_ID

ARG VUE_APP_FIREBASE_API_KEY
ENV VUE_APP_FIREBASE_API_KEY $VUE_APP_FIREBASE_API_KEY
ARG VUE_APP_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN
ENV VUE_APP_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN $VUE_APP_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN
ARG VUE_APP_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID
ENV VUE_APP_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID $VUE_APP_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID
ARG VUE_APP_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET
ENV VUE_APP_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET $VUE_APP_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET
ARG VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID
ENV VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID $VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID
ARG VUE_APP_FIREBASE_APP_ID
ENV VUE_APP_FIREBASE_APP_ID $VUE_APP_FIREBASE_APP_ID
ARG VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID
ENV VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID $VUE_APP_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID

# build the application
RUN yarn build

FROM nginx:1.19 as production-stage
RUN mkdir /app
COPY --from=build-stage /app/dist /app
COPY nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

But I only receive empty values for all variables

Does anyone know what is wrong with my solution? Or do you have any other solution to achieve what I want to do?