A-B will boost Budweiser's availability to 200 county-level cities in China starting this year, doubling its presence from 100 now, the company said in an e-mailed statement. Counties are China's smallest cities.

A-B also is extending its Harbin beer to 33 new cities in China, along with its imported Corona beer from Mexico, to attract drinkers willing to pay more for overseas brands. A-B is focused on China to reduce its dependence on the U.S., where it gets 65 percent of volume and growth has slowed to about 1 percent a year.