Price fixing is an instrument of financial policy, which is still in use today in other forms. The Ottoman state would determine the ceiling price for certain products in order to preclude rises in their price., The ban-breakers who sold over the ceiling price were subject, to sanction. This practice was implemented as a precaution for protecting the consumer. However, the lowest price for the products subject to price fixing policies was also set so that not only the consumer but also the producer was protected by the practice of price fixing. Thus, it is possible to describe this policy as a practice of floor and ceiling price fixation.

Price fixation would be executed by the Qadi of Istanbul. The Qadi would implement this policy with the help of muhtesib (ottoman constabulary-official for public order). Among officially fixed-price products were basic consumer goods such as flour, bread, meat, oil-fat and salt.

Officially-fixed prices of a 312-year period are demonstrated in the table below beginning from 1524 to 1836 at an avarage interval of 30 years. Flour, bread, mutton, beef, tallow, olive oil, salt and candle are the products included in the table. In order to form a common value, weight and prices of the products are converted into akçes (silver coins) per kıyye (okka).

*Sources: Halil Sahillioğlu, “Osmanlılar’da Narh Müessesesi ve 1525 Yılı Sonunda İstanbul’da Fiyatlar”, BTTD, , no. 1 (1967), pp. 36-40; issue 2, pp.54-56; issue 3, pp.50-53; Mübahat S. Kütükoğlu, “1624 Sikke Tashihinin Ardından Hazırlanan Narh Defterleri”, TD, no. 34 (1984), pp.126-128; Mübahat S. Kütükoğlu, “1009 (1600) Tarihli Narh Defterine Göre İstanbul’da Çeşitli Eşya ve Hizmet Fiyatları”, TED, 1978, no. 9, pp. 22-25; Salih Aynural, “Selim III Döneminde İstanbul’da İktisadi Hayat”, PhD thesis, İstanbul University, 1989, p. 141-155; Arif Bilgin, “Narh Listeleri ve Üsküdar Mal Piyasası (1642-1708)” , IV. Üsküdar Sempozyumu, ed. Coşkun Yılmaz, Istanbul: IV. Üsküdar Sempozyumu, 2007, vol. 2, pp. 155-191.

Note: Fixed prices between 1789-1807, as provided by Aynural, were used, and prices relating to the last month of the year in question were taken into account.